


Nesting

by RaineyDay



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Baby Angus McDonald, Eighth Bird Angus McDonald, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Half-Elf Angus McDonald, Kid Fic, Light Angst, Morning Sickness, Nonbinary Taako (The Adventure Zone), Pre-Canon, Pregnancy, The Lupcretia isn’t a focus but it’s definitely there, Trans Pregnancy, Trans Taako (The Adventure Zone), Who still uses he/him pronouns though, don't worry Lup's still trans too even if I don't explicitly say it, kind of, probable eventual Blupcretia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 30,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27904012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineyDay/pseuds/RaineyDay
Summary: Taako and Lup are determined to kick ass at going to university, even though their childhood education was anything but traditional.Then, Taako finds himself in a situation that threatens to undermine all their hard work.But there's plenty of university students that have kids! Really, this is just another chance to show how much better they are at everything they do- they candefinitelymanage to graduate and raise a kid at the same time.
Relationships: Angus McDonald & Taako, Lup & Angus McDonald, Lup & Angus McDonald & Taako, Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), The Director | Lucretia/Lup
Comments: 19
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello friends! This is my first Adventure Zone fic, and it's a kidfic, which is not surprising if you know anything about my writing trends.
> 
> This AU will feature Eighth Bird Angus _eventually._ Until we get to the beginning of canon though, it'll probably read more like a modern/university with magic AU instead, because we don't know enough about the crew's homeworld and it takes place during Taako and Lup's university time.
> 
> It also features trans Taako and trans Lup. They're still identical though, because I enjoy that. Chalk that impossibility up to the fact that they're fantasy aliens. Maybe for elves, physical traits that indicate assigned gender at birth develop differently, so you can have identical twins with different assigned genders at birth! Why not??
> 
> But anyway, hope you enjoy!
> 
> TW: emetophobia for the first chapter

Something was wrong with her brother. Lup knew that. He'd been worn out and listless for almost the entire break.

They had just finished a semester at the Institute for Planar Research and Exploration, and Lup had expected to spend the break relaxing and having fun. They'd worked hard all semester, and their grades reflected it. They were used to working hard, and combined with their natural talent and intellect, they were currently top of their class. They'd earned a good time.

And yet, Taako had spent the entire month-long break laying around the apartment and flipping through channels on television.

Now, Lup wasn't opposed to the occasional lazy day here and there, but after a while it just got boring. They'd spent too much of their lives on the move and working for a better future for either of them to be completely comfortable doing _nothing_ for too long. And it wasn't like Taako to spend _this_ much time lazing about.

At first, Lup had thought it was about his recent breakup with his boyfriend, but it went on too long for that. Taako didn't get too invested in romantic relationships, and he hadn't been all that into the guy anyway. At most, he deserved a couple days of moping. Plus, Taako would have told her, if that was the case.

Taako hadn't really said anything about why he was acting like this. Lup was pretty sure that it wasn't because he didn't recognize that he was acting weird, but because he wasn't ready to tell her why yet. She understood that he might not want to talk about it, but it was getting annoying to wait so long for answers. Taako wasn't usually this secretive with her.

She wouldn't push it though. It was his business. And even though his business always ended up being her business as well, he had a right to keep it his business for as long as he wanted. She just really hoped that he would say something before he ended up in over his head.

-

Lup was worried about him. Taako knew that. But he was too busy trying to convince himself that nothing was wrong to do the same to her.

Something was wrong with him. He was exhausted and starving all the time, and the end of the semester had wiped him out in a way that wasn't normal. And he was really hoping that he was wrong about why all this was happening.

He tried to convince himself that he just wasn't used to the workload expected of IPRE students. He and Lup hadn't had the most traditional education before now, so it was totally reasonable that he'd react badly to the stress. _Everyone_ attending university was stressed out and sleep deprived.

But even if he'd never done this particular kind of education before, he'd done comparable amounts of work before. And he'd spent most of his life stressed out. And that excuse didn't erase the uncomfortable suspicion lingering at the back of his mind.

He just refused to entertain that suspicion for long enough to do anything about it. He wasn't pregnant. He couldn't be. He _refused_ to be. They'd gotten too far for him to fuck it up now by saddling them with a little parasite who'd take up all their time and resources. They'd finally made it. He couldn't screw it up for them after they'd worked so hard.

He just needed to get some more rest, and he'd be fine. This was nothing to worry about, and he was getting himself and his sister all worked up for no reason. It was _fine._

-

When Lup got up to make breakfast on the first day of the new semester, she was surprised not to see her brother in the kitchen already. Taako had gone to bed earlier than her last night, and she would have expected him to have woken before her too. His first class of the day was even earlier than hers.

His absence wouldn't normally have bothered her, except for the fact that he’d been acting so off lately. Lup was pretty sure that he was coming down with something, but he wasn't listening to her not-so-subtle hints to get it checked out.

She walked out of the kitchen to her brother's room; at the last second, she decided to knock on his door before opening it. She wouldn't normally bother to do that with him, but Taako tended to feel more vulnerable and jumpy when he was sick, and the knocking might help prevent startling him or setting him off.

When she didn't get a response after a moment, Lup pushed open the door anyway. Taako wasn't there. Lup frowned, stepping back out into the hallway. She didn't think she could have missed him elsewhere in the house so where-

Her question was answered by the sound of retching from the bathroom. Lup winced in sympathy. That would explain it then.

She knocked softly on the door, letting Taako decide if he wanted to be alone or not. When the door slowly drifted open, Lup entered, stepping carefully over the extended leg that Taako had pushed the door open with, apparently unwilling to move quite yet.

She settled beside him, and started to braid his hair. It was tied back enough that he hadn't gotten any sick in it, but it was loose in a way that Lup knew Taako didn't like, and that would be all too easy to come undone and get gross if this went on for much longer.

While she braided, Taako gagged and vomited a couple more times, but it was slowly getting less violent and less frequent. When she finished the braid, Taako leaned back against the wall, sighing.

"Ugh, that was gross as hell," he said.

"No kidding," Lup agreed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Do you need me to bring a bucket to your bedroom, or do you think you'll be good for a while?"

"I'll be alright. But there's something else I might need," Taako said, and he dug into the pocket of his pajama pants, pulling out a scribbled note.

"What?" Lup asked, torn between leaning closer to look at the note and not wanting to get even closer than she already was to her pukey brother. It didn't matter anyway, because he passed it over immediately.

Lup took the note, reading over it quickly. For a moment she was confused, before her eyes widened and she stared at her brother.

"Really?"

"I don't know, yet, Lulu, that's why I need it."

"Yeah, that wasn't really what I was asking, dingus."

"Can we just... not?" Taako buried his face in his hands. "Like, right now? Is not a great moment for a Taako Truth."

"Yeah, okay," Lup shrugged. She wasn't going to let this go, no matter what happened next, but she could understand that he wouldn't want to talk about it at the moment. "I'll see if we've got the components in stock, and if not, I'll make a quick run to the market."

"Thanks," Taako said, quiet, without looking at her. Lup knew it wasn't just because she was getting the supplies together for him.

As soon as she left the bathroom, she ran for the spell component pantry, hoping they'd already have everything. They didn't tend to keep _too_ many potion supplies on hand, because they weren't alchemists, but they kept some, and nothing on this list was too rare or complicated to make.

She really did not want to make a run to the market this morning. It was super rainy outside, and she needed to get some shit together for class, and she didn't have time for this. But she couldn't _not_ get Taako what he needed. Especially considering-

She didn't need to worry about it, in the end, because they did have what they needed. She checked and double checked the ingredient list from Taako, before taking it all back to Taako's room, dumping it on his bed.

He was back in his room by then, sitting on the side of the bed that she didn't dump the stuff on, leaning his head back against the headboard. He still looked pale, and his eyes were closed, but Lup wasn't sure if it was because of the nausea or the situation.

"Here we go," she announced, in an overly cheery tone that she only tended to use when she was _really_ stressed.

Taako opened his eyes, leaning over to start getting everything ready. She helped without exchanging another word.

It was really a pretty simple potion/spell combination, as long as you knew the basics. Lup had always figured it was designed that way because of the everyday nature of the thing. Actual alchemists must make these things a couple times a day, at least.

Now, she was starting to consider a different reason that it was so simple. She didn't think that she had the cognitive processing capabilities to do anything too complicated or in-depth at the moment, and _she_ wasn't the one who might be knocked up. Of course, it would affect her life just as much as her brother's, if true, but still.

Together, they managed to get it ready in under ten minutes, despite their shared idiocy-inducing panic.

Lup handed the vial to her brother as soon as it was ready. She knew what the next steps were, but she still flinched slightly at the sight of Taako pricking his finger and letting a few drops of blood spill into the mixture.

They stared at the mixture for a minute, dead silent, waiting. It would change color if the results were positive, shifting from the greyish brown it started as to a vibrant green. It wasn't exactly difficult to notice the results, so Lup was pretty confident that they'd get an accurate result right away, no matter that they'd never tested out this particular potion before.

Just as she was wondering if it was safe to let herself breathe again, the color shifted, almost imperceptibly at first, before it sped up and turned an undeniable shade of green.

Taako buried his face in his hands.

"Great. Fucking awesome!" he groaned.

Lup bit her lip as she watched her brother, unsure how to respond. She could handle just about anything her brother threw at her, but this was new, uncharted territory. This was something she hadn't expected _at all_.

"Well. You sure did that, huh?" She said, falling back on jokes because she wasn't sure how to be sincere at the moment.

Taako just groaned again, falling onto his back.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do now, huh?" He said. Lup was pretty sure it was rhetorical.

"You _have_ options," she reminded him, gently, laying down next to him.

He just hummed back at her, not saying anything, and Lup was glad he wasn't looking at her, because she didn't know _what_ her expression was doing, but she thought he'd be offended by whatever it was. He tended to jump to taking offense whenever he was on shaky footing. Not to mention, she was surprised, and he'd be able to tell, and that would make him feel even more off-balance, because they knew each other too well to genuinely surprise each other that often.

But this was a shock. Because the fact that Taako hadn't immediately responded to confirm which option he'd picked indicated that he _hadn't_ made a decision yet. And that was definitely a surprise.

Lup had known that this was big ever since she'd read the note, but she'd kind of thought that it would be big in the sense of Taako being shaken up emotionally and the fact that they would need to plan a trip to the closest Fantasy Planned Parenthood, _not_ in the sense that her brother was going to be a parent in less than a year.

But Taako hadn't immediately started fantasy googling addresses and making a plan to visit a clinic. He hadn't committed to going through with it either, of course, but the facts were that he was considering it.

"You know I'm with you no matter what you do, right?" Lup asked. It didn't need to be asked. Taako might even be a little offended at the question, because it shouldn't need to be said. But she didn't have the emotional energy to say ' _I'll help you with medical costs and the side effects if you terminate, or I'll be by your side until the kid is born and I'll comfort you when you give it up for adoption or help you raise it if you keep it, and I won't judge you for_ any _of those choices or blame you if this messes anything up for us._ '

Taako rolled over onto his side to look at her after that, propping himself up with one arm.

"Ch'yeah, course I know," he said, but his expression was just on the safe side of teary, so Lup knew that he understood.

She propped herself up too, and she didn't even say anything about how close to crying he looked, because his hormones must be all over the place right now, so it wasn't his fault he was emotional. And also, she'd definitely get more chances to tease him about showing emotions in the next few weeks anyway. She'd heard pregnant people were practically leaky faucets, so. No need to ruin a genuine moment.

"Good," Lup said. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Also, you stink, not just from the puking, though that doesn't help. Take a damn shower or get out of my face."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Planning to update every Saturday, in case you're curious.

Eventually, Taako worked through his thoughts enough to remember to check the time.

He sat up immediately, jostling Lup in the process.

"Shit! I got class," he said. He wasn't generally too fussed about showing up on time to stuff, but he didn't want to miss the chance to get an impression of the professor and class while there was still time to change his schedule if either of those sucked too much.

He wouldn't need to bring much with him on the first day, which was a good thing, because he was barely going to have time to get himself ready as it was. Lup was right; he did need a shower, if only because he felt gross after this morning.

"You sure you're good to go?" Lup asked. There were a number of questions included in that, but Taako decided to ignore them.

"It's the first day of class, Lulu. Not gonna be that difficult," he said.

He moved into the hallway, heading for the bathroom. Annoyingly, Lup followed him.

"No, but really?" She pressed.

Taako turned on the shower and started to undress, knowing even as he did that it wouldn't deter Lup, not when she was hung up over something this important. And yeah, she averted her eyes slightly, but kept following, not all that bothered by something she'd seen a hundred times. At least when he got in the shower, she'd be muffled.

"Can't hear you, Lu!" He said, stepping in. "Water's running!"

"You can't hear me... because you're in the shower?" Lup busted out her best Elle Woods impression, and Taako snorted despite himself.

"Nope! Definitely can't hear a thing!"

Lup huffed.

"Fine! We're talking about this later!" She shouted.

"Never doubted it!" He called back, hearing her footsteps fade as she left the bathroom and closed the door.

With the distraction of his sister out of the way, Taako's mind immediately went back to the problem at hand. _Fuck_ this was bad.

His hand brushed over his stomach lightly, accidentally and he flinched. He didn't want to think about this. Maybe a shower was the absolute worst idea he could have had. Now, there wasn't even the barrier of a piece of cloth between him and the elephant in the room.

He was alone with his thoughts, which wasn't a great place for him to be. And the worst part was, he wasn't actually alone. Technically speaking. And yeah, the thing was just like, a clump of cells at this point, and it couldn't even hear or understand him, but there was just something deeply disconcerting about knowing that it was here and he couldn't get away from it.

He'd been so stupid. He knew better than this! He and Lup had seen enough people screwing themselves over like this for him to make this kind of mistake. Birth control is an absolute necessity, every time! But no, he's managed to join the ranks of those who sheepishly say 'I only forgot once!'

This didn't have to be a thing, though. He knew that. From everything he'd heard, getting an abortion in this town wasn't exactly convenient, but it wasn't impossible. And he knew plenty of people who could help out driving him or lend him some money so he didn't have to worry about saving up and running past the state deadline, so it wasn't an issue.

The actual issue was that he found himself reluctant to actually _do_ that. He had a tendency to procrastinate stuff, because he hated making plans and shit, and maybe he could chalk his reluctance up to that. It was going to be a pain in the ass to work out all the details.

That didn't quite feel accurate though. It kind of felt like his reluctance was more than that.

He pushed the thoughts away. It didn't bear thinking about at the moment, because he couldn't do anything immediately either way.

Right now, he had to focus on getting ready for class, and that was _it_.

-

Taako hadn't memorized his sister's schedule yet- hadn't even memorized his own yet- but he was pretty sure she'd said something about her first class starting immediately after his ended, so he knew she wouldn't be back to the apartment for a little while yet.

Class had been a decent distraction from his thoughts, which was a pleasant surprise. The prof seemed pretty alright, and the subject was one he liked, so he'd been able to lose himself in thoughts about the subjects they were going to cover that semester and projects they'd be working on. He wasn't a stellar student, but he was smart and he could really throw himself into something when he wanted to.

And when the only other thing to think about was the fact that he was well and truly _fucked_ , he definitely wanted to.

He didn't want to go back to being alone with his thoughts yet. To being _alone_ but not alone yet.

So instead, he wandered around campus, making sure he knew where to go for the rest of his classes and shit, but mostly just trying to avoid thinking.

He stopped in front of the campus health center, and all the thoughts came rushing back. He probably should schedule a doctor's appointment, right? To make absolutely sure. And a doc or cleric would probably have a better idea of how to handle the next steps than he did.

Still, the idea of stepping into the health center and asking for a pregnancy test was repellent. He couldn't make himself go inside, but he couldn't seem to walk away either.

Before he could convince himself to do either, somebody spoke from behind him.

"You gonna head in or not, bud?"

Taako turned to see a dwarf man behind him, who was dressed like he knew he was supposed to look professional, but just couldn't. He had a lab coat kind of thing with a nametag that Taako didn't bother to read and the logo for the health center on it.

"Yeah, no, just- thinking, my dude," Taako shrugged, stepping the tiniest bit to the side to indicate that the guy could end the conversation and go inside.

"Must be pretty intense thoughts," the dwarf chuckled, not moving.

Taako grit his teeth slightly in annoyance. He was never really in the mood to start up a conversation with a total stranger, but right now that was more true than ever. He just hummed and examined his fingernails in response, hoping the message would get across.

"You don't need an appointment or anything," the dwarf said. "It's walk-in for most stuff."

"Mmhmm," Taako still couldn't get himself to just- leave already!

The dwarf finally stepped forward and opened the door, but he held it out for Taako to walk inside. Taako rolled his eyes, but went through. He was being stupid anyway. He had to do this, so might as well get it over with.

The dwarf walked in after him, passing by the office staff quickly.

"Nell, I don't got any appointments now, right?" He asked one of them, who shook their head.

"Not for another hour, Merle," they said.

"Great. I'll handle the walk-in there," he said, pointing towards Taako.

"Sounds good!" Nell replied, cheerily. "There's just a bit of paperwork to fill out, but you can follow Cleric Merle and fill it out in the back, alright?"

"Uh, yeah, alright," Taako said, thrown slightly, but that sure was a lot more convenient than waiting. And it meant admitting to his fuck-up to fewer people so...

The dwarf- Merle- led him to a small exam room after Nell handed him the papers. Taako waited until the door closed behind them to even think about saying what he needed to say.

"I think I'm knocked up, homie," Taako announced before the guy could ask, putting as much bravado on as he could. This didn't have to be super embarrassing if he didn't let it be. This shit happened. Hadn't happened to him before, sure, but it wasn't like it was weird or rare. And this guy didn't give off the vibe of someone who'd be judgemental anyway, which was something Taako couldn't _stand_ in a healer.

And, sure enough, Merle didn't react much at all, just moving to grab a little vial and making a quick note on a clipboard.

"Alright. We'll need some blood to confirm, but the results should be ready in a few. Why don't I handle that and you finish that?" He said, gesturing to the forms Nell had given him.

The new test came back positive, again, of course, not that he'd really doubted it. The cleric shoved a handful of pamphlets into Taako's hands when he was busy freaking out all over again.

"No matter what you choose, you ought to make an appointment with a healer who specializes in this stuff," Merle said. "Nobody in this office really knows much about this, if I'm being honest. The Institute requires us clerics to put in our hours here, but most of us have other areas of focus. There's a referral list on one of those things, let me see."

He took the pamphlets back, muttering to himself and picking through them, before making a pleased noise when he found what he was looking for.

"Here we go. I recommend Doc Howard, myself, here I'll circle them," Merle offered, doing so.

Taako didn't say anything really, letting the guy ramble because he wasn't paying attention anyway.

"So will that be all?" Merle asked.

Taako nodded.

"Listen, kid," Merle started, and Taako finally started moving toward the door, not exactly eager for some old dude to monologue at him. "You're going to be okay."

And normally, Taako would just scoff at that, and roll his eyes, which he did, but something about this guy made him want to believe it. Probably the stupid fuckin' hormones the little thing was shoving at him. They must think they run the show already. Guess they take after him, huh?

Okay, no, that was a dangerous thought. He had to get that under control right the hell now.

He left the office without sparing another moment.

-

When Lup got back to the apartment, the lights were off, and she wondered if Taako was even here. He didn't usually spend much time on campus in between classes though.

She entered the tiny living room to find him passed out on the couch. He'd been sleeping a lot more lately, and that made sense suddenly. Growing a person must take a lot of work. And she thought the fetus' other dad was human, because she was pretty sure that the only person Taako had slept with recently was his human ex. Humans only slept.

Lup wasn't actually sure that that was how that worked- half-elves needed to actually sleep instead of trance more than full elves, sure, but would that be the same for a person carrying a half-elf baby? They really needed to do their research on that, honestly.

What they needed was to go to a doctor. Lup wasn't sure how Taako would respond to that suggestion though. She hated feeling so uncertain about her brother. They were _twins_. They'd been together their whole lives. She knew him better than anyone.

Which meant it was time to stop doubting herself and just talk to him. She knew how to talk to her brother. This didn't change that.

She'd let him sleep, but she resolved to talk to him when he got up. Bully him into seeking medical support.

Entering the kitchen, she decided on just making herself a sandwich. She had no idea how the smell of cooking might impact the morning sickness, and she'd rather not risk Taako puking on the couch because he got nauseous in his sleep.

She glanced at the calendar on the wall, reminding herself of her schedule and making sure that Taako wasn't about to sleep through any classes.

There was a new note on the calendar for next week- a reminder of an appointment with "Dr. H" in Taako's handwriting. Lup grinned at it.

This was a good sign. They were going to figure this out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Merle come back before the mission? I don't know, honestly. Don't know why he would, but like,,, I needed a healer character for this chapter, and who better than the worst cleric ever?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An appointment. And some emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! I meant to have this out last Saturday, as that is my update schedule, but I had finals that kicked my ass. So instead, have it now, as a Candlenights gift!

Taako leaned back in his chair at the kitchen counter as Lup cooked breakfast Monday morning. He kept almost falling backwards, and Lup wanted to tell him to knock it off before he hurt himself, but refrained. If he got hurt, it was his own fault. She had been a lot more protective of him than usual this past week, and she was trying very hard to not let it show.

Taako hadn't stopped moving all morning, pacing and fidgeting with nerves. He'd come out of his room as soon as he'd heard her moving around, so he must have been up for a while before that.

Lup was making pancakes for herself, and Taako if he could stomach them. Working around the morning sickness was still a work in progress. On Friday, they'd discovered that eggs were an absolute no-go, when the scent alone had made Taako puke.

Taako had told her not to let it bother her, that he could chill out in his room until she was done if she wanted to make something he couldn't handle right now, but like hell would she listen to that. There was plenty of non-egg breakfasts she could have.

And she definitely wasn't going to force him to be alone in his room today. Not with how nervous he was.

Taako's appointment was at one, and he was already a bit of a wreck over it.

Their first class was one that they shared, and it was at ten, and Lup was already planning how to keep him occupied for the rest of the day until it was time to head out.

"Shit!" Taako shouted, just barely catching himself as his chair slipped.

Lup laughed, but kept a careful eye on him. He looked a little pale, and Lup knew he was feeling nauseous, because if he wasn't then he would have been helping her with breakfast. Honestly, she couldn't imagine that the constant nervous motion was helping with that.

And yeah, after the near miss, Taako leaned his head down on the countertop, closing his eyes.

"Don't you dare get sick all over our kitchen," Lup warned. Her sympathy for his situation only went so far.

"Won't," Taako managed, not looking up yet.

Lup hummed her uncertainty, but turned back to the pancakes. They were just about ready, and so she finished and plated them with a flourish.

She sat down to eat, still watching Taako carefully. The idiot wouldn’t tell her if he needed her to take her breakfast and leave until it was too late, and then he’d complain and whine and tease that it was her fault while he got sick.

And she’d deny it and tease back, but still, a part of her did feel guilty when it happened. This already sucked for him, and she wanted to help him deal with it, not make it harder.

This was such a shitty situation, and while she really wasn’t going to blame or judge Taako, that was more motivated out of the knowledge that it was worse for him than anything else. A part of her was aching to smack her brother for being an idiot.

But she didn’t. That’s because she was the _nice_ twin.

After a while, Taako got up and made himself a plate. One that was a lot less full than usual, but still.

“Is it just me, or is the prof for magical theory a huge dillweed?” Lup said, when he sat back down.

“Yeah, he obvi is,” Taako responded. “But the TA is hot.”

Lup hummed in agreement, watching Taako just devour his breakfast. She had been planning on talking about class a little more but...

“Hungry, bro?” She asked, as he popped right back up to get more.

“Fuckin’ starving,” Taako answered. While he was up, he opened the cabinets and started poking around them.

“Finish my pancakes first! Don't waste them!” Lup scowled.

“I won’t!” Taako said, rolling his eyes at her, as if she was ridiculous for suggesting that the dude who’d had to lay down to avoid throwing up ten minutes ago should maybe chill a bit before stuffing his face.

He sat back down, and Lup raised an eyebrow at the plate. Taako made a face at her.

“Yeah, I’m hungry, so sue me. This is the first time I’ve stopped feeling sick long enough to eat in a _week._ I’m making it count.”

“Yeah alright,” Lup shrugged, continuing her breakfast at a more sedate pace. It was really nice to see Taako eating again, though, so she couldn’t stop the teasing grin that spread over her face.

“Man, they weren’t kidding when they came up with ‘eating for two’, huh?” She said.

Taako flipped her off immediately, but after a moment, he stilled.

“What do you think the odds are that it’s just one in there?" He asked, voice in that 'trying-to-be-casual-but-definitely-not' tone that only she could read.

"Shit, I have no idea," Lup said. She started wracking her brain for any scraps of family memories that could hint at whether or not that was an actual possibility. She was _pretty sure_ that twins ran in families- their family in particular- but she had no idea what that meant in this case. Did it run in the family, like every other generation, or was it the kind of thing that was more rare to _avoid_?

"Given our luck? I'd guess they're low!" Taako laughed, but it sounded a bit shaky. Lup wasn't gonna say anything about it. There had already been an excessive amount of _emotions_ in their most recent conversations, and like, she could handle that when she really _had_ to, but they didn't have to at the moment. They didn't know whether or not that was even a thing yet, so maybe save that freakout for later.

"I'll take that bet. Ten bucks says lonely child," Lup said instead.

Taako laughed.

"I don't know that ten dollars is a very good consolation prize for learning that I'm even more fucked than I thought," he said.

"You know, it doesn't actually take extra fucking to make twins," Lup said.

"Yeah?" Taako asked, voice trailing up at the end like he knew this was going somewhere he wouldn't like but unsure where yet.

"Okay, cool. Just figured I'd make sure, since clearly you don't remember enough sex ed shit," Lup hit the punchline slyly.

Taako's mouth opened, before closing again, sputtering uselessly as he tried to figure out a retort to that.

Finally, he sighed.

"Yeah, okay, got me there. I mean, there's no response I can give to that that won't make me look bad."

Lup just snickered into her hands. The upside of all this was that she had _so much_ new shit to mock him over. As far as upsides go, it was about on the level of ten dollars and a second baby, but like, still.

-

Taako was used to standing out. And not only in good ways. When they were kids, it seemed like he and Lup were always getting the wrong kind of attention. They were on their own, unwanted kids who got underfoot. They were identical twins, which always drew attention and stares, even if only because most people weren't used to the sight of two people so similar to each other. And they were gorgeous and brilliant and talented, so of course people wanted to watch them.

But that didn't mean that the feeling of being watched couldn't still be uncomfortable at times.

And the worst part was, he knew that no one was actually watching him. Nobody cared about the random elf in the waiting room. No one here recognized them or judged them or even seemed to really notice them at all.

And yet, the itchy feeling of being crushed under someone's gaze continued.

"Taako?" A nurse called, smiling and friendly in a way that Taako would have normally been annoyed by, but at the moment, he was too relieved to get out of there to care much.

... until he got past the doorway and realized that there was no reason to be relieved. He was still just as screwed as before, and it wasn't like his fear of being noticed was going away back here.

He stopped at the receptionist's desk before the nurse led him too far away.

"My sister's on her way. Send her over when she gets here, okay?" He instructed him, not giving the guy a chance to question that.

The nurse attempted to make small talk as she led him to the exam room, but he just kept peering down at his nails, doing his best to project complete disinterest. He was very good at projecting disinterest, and soon enough the blabbering stopped.

They got some basic info out of the way quick- _yes, I know who the other parent is, no they're not coming to any appointments, the thing's half-human, not sure when exactly it happened but here's the likeliest time frame_ \- and they were moving on to family history crap by the time Lup came back.

Family medical history was always the worst, because most of it Taako could only shrug in response to. He offered what he could, with Lup chiming in here or there, but the form was still pretty bare by the time they got done.

"Okay, and I know you said that the other father won't be coming to appointments, and that this isn't always an option, but I do have to ask if there is any chance you can get access to any of his family history. It can be relevant to the overall health of the fetus, as well as yours," the nurse spoke, clearly trying to project non-judgment as best she could.

"I mean, I can try. No guarantees," Taako found himself speaking before he'd decided what to say.

Lup's head tilted slightly at that, like she wanted to say something or look at him but was restraining herself.

"I can give you a basic form, so that he can fill it out without even needing to make an appointment if that would be easier," the nurse offered. "Any information you can provide will be useful."

"Don't get too excited. Might not even get anything at all," Taako warned. If only because he might chicken out of actually asking. He hadn't been with the guy for very long, and telling him about this was daunting. Especially when he didn't even know if he was keeping the spawn yet. If he was just going to terminate anyway, why bother with the awkward conversation? But he knew that he really ought to tell him if he did decide to keep the thing, and since he hadn't made that decision yet, it might be less weird to just get it out of the way? Rip the band-aid off. And if the guy wanted to be helpful, or, hell, if he just wanted to shove some cash at Taako in hopes that it would make him drop the issue, then telling him early could only improve things.

The idea of _keeping it_ sent a shot of anxiety up his spine. It was terrifying, and he shouldn't even consider it. He wasn't cut out to be a dad. And this was a terrible point in his life to become one anyway, even if he had been dad material. He didn't want to derail his life like this.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he didn't especially want to terminate either. He wanted this to not have happened, but that wasn't an option any more. And the thought of termination just plain felt __bad__ and __wrong__ and __uncomfy__ , despite everything saying that it should be the logical choice.

Probably he should base a huge decision like this on something more solid than a vague bad feeling, but Taako had always been one to do what he wanted to do, solid reasons or no. And he didn't feel like picking at those emotions any further. It probably wasn't healthy to avoid thinking deeper about this, but he wasn't the most emotionally mature guy around to begin with.

He tried not to pay too much attention to the nerves, but even as emotionally constipated as he was, he could admit that it wasn't just fear that he was feeling.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako finally admit to experiencing an Emotion.

The dude was named Sebastian, and Taako was pretty sure that he'd already deleted the guy's contact info. He didn't usually have a reason to get back in touch with a partner after things ended, especially when he hadn't been all that into them in the first place.

He really hated the thought of trying to talk to him now. It was going to be so awkward, and honestly, he really didn't want to be tied to this guy for the rest of his life, even in this indirect way. He'd rather just not tell him at all.

But he couldn't. The dude ought to know what had happened and be able to make a choice in the matter. And the kid- not a kid yet, still maybe not _ever_ a kid, if Taako came to his senses soon enough- deserved better from him than to chicken out of even saying anything to the other father.

Ugh, little shit had no right to do this to him.

"Hey Lulu, did you maybe not get around to deleting Seb's number yet?" Taako greeted his sister when they both got home from class.

"Not sure I ever had it, bro bro," Lup shrugged, looking anyway. "You really gonna tell him?"

"Maybe. I should, right?" Taako said. Lup had always been better at people skills and social niceties than him, but he was kind of hoping she'd give him a good excuse not to bother.

"Since when are you worried about what you should or shouldn't do?" Lup asked.

"Since a parasite hijacked my body and emotions," Taako said.

Lup smiled softly at him, and Taako didn't care for that shit at all.

"Listen- we can totally do this on our own. We'd give this kid a baller life, natch," Taako said.

""Course we could- and will."

"And the dude might just be a shitty fucking dad and disappoint the parasite anyway."

"Yeah, could happen," Lup frowned, looking way too damn sad at the thought.

"I still gotta tell him, don't I?" Taako groaned, slumping onto the couch dramatically.

"Yeah, you gotta," Lup said.

"Fuck, this sucks," Taako wriggled deeper into the couch, throwing a blanket over his head.

He didn't need to do it _now_ though. He couldn't do it without the guy's number anyway. And he was wiped out. Apparently growing a new person really took it out of a guy, who would've guessed?

He didn't actually mean to fall asleep, but then Lup was shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

"Taako, come on, get up," she was saying, and he grumbled and groaned but sat up. His stomach rolled in a way that was getting much too familiar as he swung his legs off the couch. He pushed at Lup's hands to stop her shaking him, and stayed very still.

"I hate all of this," he breathed, waiting for it to pass.

Lup hummed sympathetically, rubbing at his back in a way that really wasn't all that comforting, but also wasn't making it worse and therefore wasn't worth the risk of opening his mouth.

Lup wanted to say something. Taako could see her debating it in her head. Finally, she spoke.

"So why are you doing it?"

Taako waited to be sure the nausea really had passed enough to answer. He considered just not saying anything at all. Lup would get the hint. But his skin was already crawling with his own uncertainty, so he might as well talk to her about it. He'd have to say something eventually, so he might as well get it out of the way when he was already thinking about it, instead of making himself feel this awkward and nervous _again_ by bringing it up later.

"I don't want to get rid of it," Taako admitted. "Dunno why not. I'm- this sentimental crap isn't my scene. It's just a clump of cells that shouldn't be there a-t-m. It shouldn't be a big deal."

Lup didn't say anything, just watching him.

"But I really, really don't. I feel shitty just _thinking_ about it. And all this- it's totally shitty too, but it's- easier? Somehow?" Taako shook his head. "I'm being an idiot, aren't I?"

"You're not. Ya gotta pick the least shitty option sometimes. If your least shitty option is to keep it, then that's what we're gonna do."

"Might still give it up. Adopters _love_ babies, and this little thing is gonna be adorable, natch, so it would be fine," Taako mumbled, refusing to think that far ahead yet in case it also felt too awful to think about. That was the last exit ramp away from this impending disaster, and he needed it to stay open.

"Yep. Your choice 'Ko." Lup said. "Also if you don't do that, it'll still be fine. It's _us_ we're talking about here. If we want to do something, we're gonna rock it. We'd kick ass at this."

"Well, yeah, Lu, that's a given. Didn't think it needed to be said," Taako scoffed, already feeling a hundred times better from talking to her.

-

"I got good news, bad news, and news!" Lup announced as she entered the apartment. "Which do you want first?"

Taako had been trying to catch up on some of his homework. He'd been too damn exhausted and sick to even think about class, and Lup could fill him in on the details anyway, so he didn't think it'd be a big deal to skip. But he really couldn't let himself fall too far behind with the work, and he'd already been slacking a bit this semester.

"News?" Taako said.

"Not sure if this is bad or good news, but I got Seb's number for ya!" Lup said. Taako stilled, not looking over at her.

Yeah, he wasn't sure if that was good or bad either. He'd lowkey been hoping that he just wouldn't be able to get in touch with the guy, and then he wouldn't have to worry about telling him.

"Alright. Bad news?" Taako prompted.

"I'm actually gonna go with good news next," Lup answered. "I also got that strawberry pastry thing you've been wanting."

She put the pastry on the table next to him, and Taako was almost willing to forget that she hadn't given the bad news yet. He'd been craving strawberries really badly, and the little coffee shop on campus had this pretty good strawberry pastry that he'd have killed somebody over for the past day.

He unwrapped it and started eating like a man starving, but kept suspicious eyes on his sister the whole time.

"I repeat, bad news?" He said, when his staring didn't get a response.

"You know that cute girl who sits in front of us in magic theory?" Lup started. It took Taako a second to remember, but he thought he remembered the chick. She was objectively pretty, though obviously not _his_ type, and seemed like a bit of a nerd, so basically, exactly Lup's type.

"Yeah? Did you embarrass yourself in front of her or something? Is that the bad news?" It didn't seem likely. Lup's deflection with the pastry made it seem like it was something that might make Taako angry, and his sister embarrassing herself was just kind of funny so...

"I told her about your whole 'parasite situation.'" Lup waved her hands vaguely at Taako as she said it. She'd been very careful to not say either 'pregnancy' or 'baby' around him, and Taako was appreciative but also just amused. He wasn't gonna break if she said them. At the moment though, he had bigger things to think about.

"Why the hell did you do that?" he demanded. People would notice eventually, obviously, but he wasn't ready for anyone to know yet. He thought Lup knew that! And she just spilled the deets because a pretty girl distracted her?

"Not because I think she's cute!" Lup said, immediately catching onto his train of thought. "I got Seb's number from her, but she wanted to know why I needed it. So I told her."

"You couldn't have lied?" Taako raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, maybe a bit because I think she's cute. I was a little flustered, yeah, and I didn't want her to think that like, I was interested in him or- I could have handled it better I know!" Lup was blushing a bit now, and Taako was still kind of annoyed, but not as much.

"You're a gay dumbass but I forgive you," Taako responded.

"You're a gay dumbass," Lup shoved at his shoulder.

"I mean, yeah?" Taako agreed. "Never tried to hide that, sis."

"It's not gonna go anywhere though," Lup said.

"No?"

"Nah. She's actually Seb's sister, turns out. 'S how I knew she'd have the number. And like, if I asked her out, _aaawkwaaard_ or what, amiright?"

Taako wrinkled his nose in distaste.

"Yeah, this situation is gonna be weird enough without that. Can you imagine if it actually went somewhere with her? And our kids were cousins _twice_ over?"

He realized it was the first time he'd called the thing a kid out loud, and it felt a little weird. But it wasn't bad weird. Not bad at all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Lucretia appears! And also, minor Lupcretia. Oh yeah, and we get word back from the other dad.

"Yeah, no that's chill!" Taako was talking on the stone when Lup got back to their apartment, so she held back from greeting him, instead shutting the door quietly behind her. "Mhm, it's no biggie, my guy. Not expecting anything. Just figured you oughta know."

Oh shit.

A loud noise came from the other side of the stone, but Taako had earbuds in, so Lup couldn't actually tell make out the details of it. Had to have been _real_ loud for her to still hear it. And even if she couldn't hear the words, she _could_ see Taako flinch slightly. It was clearly not just in response to the noise level either.

Lup was suddenly extremely annoyed.

"Y-yeah, don't even stress. It's all chill over here," Taako said. "Doesn't gotta be a whole _thing_ if that's how you feel."

At the slight stammer to her brother's words, Lup saw _red._ It truly wasn't that uncommon for Taako to stumble over his words- he was self-confident to the point of arrogance, yes, but that didn't prevent somebody from having a stammer. Still, he had it pretty under control these days, and usually only stammered now if he was nervous. So yeah. Lup was _pissed._

Taako hung up the stone and Lup could hear the voice on the other end still going. So at least he wasn't too cowed by this ass.

"That was a whole waste of time, then!" Taako announced, a slight degree of false bravado to his voice. Mostly though, he just seemed resigned.

"Seb's a bastard?" Lup asked, though she didn't really need the confirmation.

"Uh-yup," Taako agreed. A goofy smile suddenly broke over his face. "Shit, the parasite's a technical bastard. The goof potential! Gimme a sec and I'll mange a good one."

Lup grinned back, torn between pressing the topic and not, before landing on not. She had been pressing Taako on a bunch of shit recently, and it was getting tiring. Sure she was the older sister (by eighteen minutes), but she didn't need to be a _parent._

"Little guy's a real bastard, doing all this to me!" Taako crowed, the amusement at finding the joke outweighing any actual annoyance.

"Hmm. Good, but can be better. Too non-specific in the second half." Lup assessed. "What's this bastard doing here?" She gestured in the general direction of Taako's midsection.

For a second she worried that would stray too close to serious shit and upset Taako, but he just laughed again, delightedly.

Lup was so glad this was getting to be something they could laugh about. Especially considering the unsurprising but disappointing reaction from Seb. Then again, they'd always learned how to laugh to turn around their darkest moments, so maybe this wasn't out of the ordinary at all.

-

Taako had been unsure what to expect from the girl in front of them in magic theory the next time they had class. She knew about him now, which was uncomfortable and weird. He felt exposed in a way he didn't like. He knew that he was nowhere close to showing yet, but he still felt like everyone could tell.

It was ridiculous. _One_ person could 'tell' and only because she had been told. It wasn't a big deal.

It was all the more awkward because of the way that Seb had reacted. Taako had known that the dude might respond negatively, question him or insult him, refuse to be involved, all that crap, so it wasn't shocking. Honestly, it was kind of a relief. Taako had done his part! He'd done the stuff a decent person was expected to do here and told the guy. No one could blame him for the fact that the guy wouldn't do his bit now.

And that saved Taako the discomfort of having to interact with an ex he barely knew or liked for the foreseeable future.

The girl was already there when they arrived- not unusual for her if Taako remembered right, but he couldn't be sure; he didn't usually pay all that much attention to the other students in class.

She was sitting in her usual seat, and Taako wondered if he and Lup should sit somewhere else to avoid the awkward. The seats weren't assigned- not that he would have cared that much if they were- so it was totally feasible.

Before he could suggest it though, the girl turned and caught sight of them. She hesitated slightly, before waving them over. Her uncertain expression turned to a smile after a moment that seemed relatively genuine. Taako frowned in confusion, but followed Lup's lead as she kept going for their regular seats.

"Ohhh boy. Bastard boy didn't tell her about his _news_ ," Lup whispered to him, and Taako tensed. Yeah, okay, that would explain her friendliness. This was gonna be real uncomfy to reveal.

"Hi," the girl said when they sat down. Her voice was soft, like she was either shy or unused to being allowed to talk in class. Humans tended to go straight from secondary school to university, so it could easily be either. She looked between the two of them, assessing, and then gestured to each as she spoke. "You're Lup and Taako, right?"

"Got it in one, homie," Taako responded. He hoped that Lup remembered this chick's name. Because he sure didn't.

"I'm Sebastian's sister. Uh, well, but you already knew that," she said. "How are you doing?"

The question was clearly directed more at Taako than Lup, and therefore, clearly a subtler version of a different question.

"Yanno, getting by," Taako said dismissively. "Listen- have you talked to Seb in the like, the last two days?"

"Uh, yes?" the girl said, clearly confused by the question.

"Cool, yeah, and he didn't mention anything about," Taako gestured down his own body. "All this?"

"Well, no, now that you ask," she said.

"Think there might be a reason for that?" It would be a lot easier if he could avoid spelling it out for her directly. She seemed like a smart cookie from her comments in class, so it shouldn't be _that_ hard.

"It wasn't a very _long_ conversation, and we were in public-" the girl started.

"Yeah, no, alright, I'munna cut the bullshit. He ain't interested in being a part of this. So you got no obligation to be all polite and shit."

"I- I see," the girl said, a strange expression on her face. "You're certain of that?"

"Def. He straight up called me a 'fucking liar slut' when I told him so..."

Taako heard Lup take in a sharp breath at the words before growling slightly, and, right, had been trying to avoid mentioning that to her so bluntly.

Surprisingly, the girl took in a quick breath at that as well, and her face flushed slightly, though it was hard to tell with her skin tone. Seb had about the same shade skin as her, and Taako wondered if the kid would have such dark skin or-

"Ah," the girl said, obviously at a loss for words. "I suppose I must apologize then. Both that he said such a thing, and for bothering you two today. If you'll excuse me."

She stood up and gathered her things with that, and Taako figured that she was going to go sit somewhere else.

Instead, she outright left the room, and he felt a tiny bit bad about that. He hadn't meant to make her feel _that_ uncomfortable about the whole thing.

"He said _what_ to you?" Lup asked, voice cold as ice, and Taako had bigger things to worry about.

"Look, Lulu, he's a dick and he's irrelevant. I don't give a fuck, you know that," he placated.

"That doesn't give him the right to say that shit!" Lup said, her voice a harsh whisper that told Taako that she was holding back the urge to scream.

"I get that. But I've heard worse. And I'm glad he ain't in the picture. Was hoping for that anyway, and I'm even more glad now," Taako shrugged.

The professor announced the start of class, and Taako faced forward, ignoring anything else Lup might want to say. She didn't bother to continue between the distraction and the truth of Taako's response.

When the guy finished calling attendance, he repeated one of the names.

"Lucretia McDonald? Does anyone know where she is? I thought I saw her earlier," the prof questioned.

"Uh, yeah, sorry! She had a family emergency! She asked us to tell you, but I forgot!" Taako called, figuring it was the least he could do.

"Ah, that explains it. I hope everything's okay," the professor frowned. Figured that she was a teacher's pet. She seemed the type.

Lup gave him an amused look as he leaned back in his seat.

"Soft-hearted bastard, huh?" She nodded toward his middle, grinning widely. Taako flipped her off.

"Nah. You know I hate this prof. Just sticking up for a newbie delinquent and sticking it to the man at the same time," he deflected.

"Uh, sure, bro," Lup rolled her eyes, but they did try to _mostly_ pay attention to class, so they slowly drifted back into listening to the lecture.

Taako figured that would be the end of things with the girl. If he got the chance, he'd try and warn her that the prof might expect a family-emergency-themed excuse, but he figured she'd be working on something like that anyway, given that she'd left before class began. Otherwise, he'd probably never talk to her, which was perfectly fine with him. He didn't need anybody else helping out here. He had Lup and that was all he needed. They would be absolutely fine on their own.

-

When magic theory came around again, Lucretia wasn't there before them.

"Did she drop the whole-ass class to avoid us?" Taako hissed at Lup.

"Dude, relax, she missed one class," Lup rolled her eyes back at him.

"Yeah, but she's usually early right? 'Cause you always used to stare at her from our seats, I remember!"

"Okay, I did it, like, once or twice, 'Ko, chill. She's objectively pretty!"

Before they could go any further down that conversation path, a large binder of papers was dropped onto the table in front of them. They startled, looking up to see Lucretia watching them with a determined glint to her eyes.

"Alright, so I've spoken with Sebastian and I got him to agree to a paternity test. When that's done, you'll have grounds to request child support. I've been going over the regulations in this area, and I think I can help you arrange a deal to get a fair amount of it too," she announced.

"Uh, what was that, babe?" Lup was the first to react.

Lucretia opened the binder and began to gesture at the paperwork inside.

"After paternity is confirmed, sperm providers have certain legal requirements. Seb doesn't want to be involved with the kid, and nobody can force him to, really. But he's also being a dick about this whole thing, and he needs to learn a lesson and take some fucking responsibility. I can help make sure that happens."

The look on her face was the same as the one she'd made when Taako had spoken to her last class, that he now realized was a seething rage.

When neither spoke, Lucretia's expression faltered and became uncertain.

"Er, that is, if you'd like. I don't meant to overstep boundaries," she said, tugging at her hair nervously. "I just thought that it would be beneficial for the both of us. My brother needs to learn that he can't treat people like this, and... Well, I don't know your situation, financial or otherwise, but I imagine that child support payments wouldn't _hurt_."

"You're assuming we're keeping it," Lup pointed out.

"I suppose I did. It seemed as though you were intending on that when we spoke last class. Though, even if you aren't, some of the legal stuff does still come into play. Abortion comes with costs, as does pregnancy, and that burden shouldn't come down solely on you," Lucretia frowned.

Taako had been watching her through the conversation, unsure if he could trust good intentions. But she seemed like the sort to be genuinely motivated by a desire to make things fair. And why the hell would she or Seb set up some kind of long con like this anyway?

"Cha'boy ain't ever gonna say 'no' to a bit of extra cash," he shrugged, leaning forward to look over the papers in the binder. There were a _lot,_ especially considering the fact that she couldn't have been planning this for very long.

"So, you're alright with this plan, then?" Lucretia confirmed.

"If Taako's chill with it, so am I," Lup said. "I was hoping for a chance to make that asshole regret his words, and this is probably the way less likely to end with me in jail which I'm all for."

"Yes, I do have to say that I'd prefer you not murder my brother, so upsides all around it seems," Lucretia said dryly, but she didn't seem truly upset by Lup's words.

The prof called for attention, and Lucretia jumped, glancing between the front of the class and the binder for a moment.

"You two can keep looking over that during class, or we can talk about it later. Whatever works best," she finally said.

Taako gave her a thumbs up and pulled the binder closer to himself. Lup had pulled out her notebook, so hopefully she was listening to the prof.

Oh, no, she wasn't. She was writing down her phone number, like the gay disaster that she was.

Lup leaned forward and handed her number to Lucretia.

"In case we want to talk later," she said.

'About the plan' was implied in the words, but the look on Lup's face implied something a lot different. Taako raised an eyebrow at her in silent judgement when she leaned back.

Lup's expression seemed to be somewhere in between denial that there was anything even vaguely crush-shaped going on, and panic at the idea that Taako might say something about it in Lucretia's hearing.

In other words, typical Lup ignorance of her own burgeoning feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucretia got a brother to strangle, haha. She's _pissed_. I'll be honest, I didn't plan for this to have any Lupcretia, but I did plan for Lucretia to be the other dad's sister, and then she showed up and suddenly Lup had a crush. So like, who knows where that's gonna go. Knowing me, probably eventually blupcretia TBH.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucretia has A Plan. Lup has A Crush. Taako has Anxiety.

"Hey, uh, you think you could fill this out for me?" Taako asked, shoving the form from Doc Howard's office at Lucretia.

She looked surprised at the piece of paper suddenly in her face, but scanned it over quickly.

"Oh. Yes, of course," she said, after she realized what it was. "I have most of Sebastian's information, and I definitely know the stuff from our parents and grandparents."

She took out a pen and started to fill in the spaces.

The quiet was awkward, and Taako didn't like it. He ought to break it somehow, though he didn't know what to say.

"Great, 'cause this little thing already has one big blank space for family history, so it would be rough if I didn't know anything about the other side either," he finally settled on. He realized only after he said it that it might make Lucretia uncomfortable, but oh well. It was said.

A lot of people got uncomfortable when they found out about his and Lup's childhood, all pitying and uncertain. It was annoying. Nobody ever knew what to say and they got weird about it.

Lucretia did tense a little as the words sunk in, but she didn't react too strongly.

"That does sound difficult. It's better to know that stuff, so you don't run into health surprises down the line. I'm glad I could help," she said, simply.

Taako appreciated the simplicity of it. No bullshit sympathy or comfort. Just an acknowledgement.

"Oof, yeah, it's rough," Taako acknowledged. "Anytime me and Lup have to see a doctor, they get annoyed by how little they have to go off on. Hard to know if it's a real problem or not without that family history, ya know?"

"I imagine. My family is fairly healthy, overall, so I don't think there should be any big things to watch out for," Lucretia said. "Well, aside form a history of mental health issues. And some autism and ADHD."

"Oh shit, so this kid's deffo gonna be neurodiverse then, huh?" Taako laughed.

Lucretia looked at him assessingly and smiled.

“I thought you might be neurodivergent. I was getting some vibes. But I’m always on the lookout for other neurodiverse people so I thought that I might just be imagining it, you know?” She said, a little bit rambling and enthusiastic in a way that was more endearing than Taako would admit.

“Listen, I’m way too smart and unique to be neurotypical, okay?” Taako said.

Lucretia laughed at that, and Taako grinned, pleased at the response. It was good to know that there was somebody who considered the parasite family that he could get along with other than his sister. Be good to have somebody to foist the little thing off on for babysitting on the cheap.

"I, ah, suppose you should also know that we have a history of multiples in our family. Not a _strong_ history, and Seb is a single, but with you and your sister being twins... I'd imagine the odds are increased," Lucretia said, after a moment of silence.

Taako found it a bit difficult to breath at the words, and tried not to think about why.

"I mean, we already thought that might happen. Nothing to do about it but wait, anyway," Taako responded, with a forced casualness.

"That's true," Lucretia agreed. "How soon until they can tell?"

"Didn't ask. But I got an appointment later this month and they're gonna get a visual on the thing, so probably by then? Figure they'd have to be pretty shit at their job to miss a whole ass baby when they're looking, right?" Taako shifted uncomfortably as he explained.

"That seems likely," Lucretia agreed. "I- I'd like it if you'd keep me updated. If you don't mind. Even if my brother's being an ass, this is my nibling we're talking about."

"Sure, sure," Taako agreed, waving absent-mindedly. If they were continuing on this plan to get back at Seb, they'd be discussing the topic a fair amount anyway. Wouldn't be difficult to offer a few details. And it would be- good, if he could preserve some semblance of family for the kid. And it be a lot less awkward for that family member to be someone he _hadn't_ had sex with.

Lup hurried up to them, a little breathless, and smiled at them both. She sat down next to Taako, her eyes on Lucretia.

"Sorry, running late this morning," she offered. She looked nice. She always looked nice, natch, but she'd clearly put a bit more effort than usual in this morning.

So maybe there would still be some sex-related awkward in the kiddo's family tree. Which was a horrifying statement that he wished he'd never thought because that sounded way worse than it was.

Lucretia smiled a bit shyly at Lup as she sat.

"It's not an issue. Taako had a form for me to fill out anyway, so you didn't miss anything," she said, handing the form back as she spoke.

Her handwriting was very neat and legible, which Taako appreciated because this was information that he was going to need to keep, so better to not have to squint and guess at deciphering it.

"So I think the faster we get Seb to take the test, the better. That way he can't weasel out of it," Lucretia said.

"Mhmm," Taako agreed. "Plus, get that cash comin' in as quick as possible."

He'd realized over the weekend how damn expensive this whole thing was going to be. Most of the healthcare costs were covered by their government (thanks last generation's universal healthcare activists), but he still had to pay some, and also he was supposed to take these vitamins? Because pregnant people needed them, and because the baby was half-human and needed some stuff that his body wasn't used to making as much of. And he'd need pregnancy clothes for when he started showing, and that was a picky process because he refused to look like a baggy mess. And... babies needed stuff. Like cribs and diapers and stuff.

It was getting harder and harder to deny to himself that he probably was not going to give the parasite up for adoption. But the thought still terrified him to some degree. It was such a big commitment. And there was no turning back once he'd done it. Even just buying stuff for the kid was hard to think about, because he wasn't going to need that stuff if he didn't keep it. So buying anything for the little thing felt like giving in.

But cash was always good. And revenge cash was even better.

"From my research, they can do a test as early as eight weeks, with samples from you and Seb," Lucretia explained. "How far along are you?"

Lup glanced over at him curiously as she said that, and Taako realized that he didn't actually know. He probably should know. But the doc hadn't said anything and he hadn't wanted to ask.

"Dunno. Last time I fucked Seb was like, before break, though, so it's been like six weeks, at least. So we can probably do that soon."

Lucretia made a face at the words. Probably didn't love the thought of her brother fucking, but like... it was an accurate assessment of the situation.

"Actually, the week count is started two weeks before conception. It's because it's the age of the egg. Your body released that before the actual, uh, fucking occurred to make the embryo," Lucretia said, a slight blush rising in her cheeks.

It was lowkey endearing. Humans like her and Seb were around the same maturity level for their species and he and Lup were for elves, but they lived so much less time to get there. And that made them seem so _young_ sometimes, even as adults. 

Lucretia continued, "So, you're probably set. Which is good, because Seb is still afraid of me at the moment, and will do what I tell him. It won't last long."

"Afraid?" Lup asked, amused.

"Yeah, so, I kind of got pissed about his attitude and screamed at him for being an ass. Like, I've _never_ screamed at my brothers like that before. And I'm oldest, so they're apparently a tiny bit afraid of me when I get angry," Lucretia explained, looking almost smug about it.

"Ha! Fuck him up, Creesh!" Lup laughed.

Lucretia's grin widened.

"Well, glad to know someone appreciates it. My parents weren't so excited about it. They don't like me scolding them because that's 'their job'. Not that they do it very well," she said, a touch bitter in the last part.

"Oof," Taako agreed. "So, uh, they know about this whole shitshow?"

"No. Seb asked me not to tell them. And it's part of my leverage to get him to take the test, so I'm not telling them until I can't get anything more out of him."

"You're really okay with this?" Lup asked. "He's your brother, and this is gonna make things harder on him for a while. Kids don't just vanish, ya know?"

Taako widened his eyes at Lup to tell her to knock it off. They didn't need to discourage her from helping them. But he was kind of curious himself. Lucretia had a certain fondness in her voice when she spoke about Seb, one that showed that she still loved him a lot, even despite her harsh attitude toward him.

"I'm not making things hard for him. He did that himself by-" she cut herself off suddenly.

"By fucking without protection?" Taako finished, raising an eyebrow. "You realize who you're talking to, right?"

"I- I'm sorry," she stammered. "I wasn't trying to judge. I just meant that he did something that has consequences. And he's gotta own up to those and not skip out because he doesn't want to deal with it. Especially because he's not the only person that has to face consequences because of his actions."

"No, I get you," Taako laughed lightly. "I'm just messin' with ya. We fucked up, for sure. But I ain't going down alone."

Lucretia's mouth opened and closed again as she realized that he wasn't actually offended.

"Ass," she muttered, softly enough that Taako thought she might have forgotten that elves can hear better than humans.

"You know it, homie," he said, laughing louder.

"Anyway- he did this to himself. So I don't mind making sure he faces consequences instead of abandoning them. It's- Seb's always tried to wiggle out of trouble and avoid consequences. It's a trait I envy sometimes, but he can't go on like this. I mean, that attitude is part of why he thinks he can get away with making you handle this alone! If he doesn't want to be a father, fine. But he can't just keep pretending he hasn't done anything wrong in his life," Lucretia said.

From her expression and tone of voice, Taako could tell that it was a rant she had long wanted to let loose. There was a lot of anger but a lot of love in it. And Taako understood her position now. And knowing that meant that he understood where they stood with her. In her mind, this was her protecting her brother, not hurting him. So she was in this for the long haul, and they weren't going to dissuade her on accident. Because she loved her brother too much to give up on this.

Taako wasn't sure she was _right_ in thinking this was protection, but he couldn't be sure she was wrong either. And he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

-

Lup found her brother staring at his phone in a sort of distant terror and sighed. This happened every once in a while and it was always a pain. Taako did a good job of hiding the nervous part of his personality from most people, but she'd been there when it had been forming. Their childhood had made him skittish and anxious, always trying to prepare for the worst possible outcome. It had saved their asses before, but it made him miserable other times.

She stepped up behind him, trying to be noisy to make sure she didn't startle him. Still, he didn't acknowledge her approach, and she peered over his shoulder to get a glimpse at what was scaring him.

" _chances I'm pregnant with twins_ " was typed into a search bar and he was on the _second page_ of results.

"You know, you might as well use a magic eight ball if you're desperate enough to hop on the second page," she said.

"Fuck, Lulu, warn a guy next time," Taako said, startling. Lup didn't bother mentioning that she'd tried.

"Aren't you going to find that out at the appointment? No point asking Fantasy Google." She wedged herself into the chair beside him as she spoke. There wasn't really enough room for two full grown people, but the pressure and closeness necessary would only help bring Taako back to the moment.

"Twins run in _their_ family too, Lup," he said, panicked.

Lup tried not to wince visibly. That did make it seem more likely that there were two. But it didn't change the fact that they didn't know yet.

"Okay, but you can't do anything about that a-t-m. And you'll still have a bunch of time until they're born to get ready if it's twins," Lup said. She hesitated before continuing. "And you said you're still considering adoption anyway."

He wasn't, not really. She knew him well enough to know that. She'd already started looking into cribs and other furniture shit because she knew better than to think there was any chance that Taako wasn't keeping the baby or babies. But he still thought he might, and it could be a comfort to let him think it.

"Not if its twins. I can't give up _twins._ They gotta stay together! Nobody's gonna keep them both!" Taako gave her a desperate look.

Lup wasn't surprised that this was bringing up old trauma, but she really wished it wouldn't. Taako didn't need this.

"I mean, I think there's options to pick a family directly. Make sure they're chill. In general, and with getting twins instead of one. I don't think you have to send them straight into the system," Lup offered. She didn't just think that, she knew it. It had been the only adoption option she'd spent any time looking at, because she didn't want to send them (plural or not) into the system either. There were way too many unknowns there.

Taako shrugged, and she knew it was working.

"Help me make dinner. I'm starving," Lup said. "We can turn on the new episode of that thing you like while we're cooking."

"You're trying to distract me," Taako frowned at her. "I'm gonna let it work, but I want to make sure you know you're not fooling me."

Lup shrugged, not caring that he saw through it. It didn't matter as long as he stopped driving himself crazy.

"Well, yeah, I'm distracting you. That's a given. You think too much sometimes, idiot," she shoved his shoulder to lever herself up out of the chair, and offered a hand. He'd been clumsier lately. The fantasy internet said that his center of balance was changing already, but she wasn't going to mention that. Just gonna try to make sure he didn't notice too much.

"Listen, I may be stupid, but I'm not an idiot," Taako said, taking her hand and laughing as she pulled him up.

"Whatever, quit stressing. Bad for the baby!" Lup said.

"It's not awesome for me either," Taako said.

"Yeah, no shit. Doesn't get you to stop!" Lup chided.

Taako just stuck his tongue out at her in response, before heading for the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And just when I was thinking that Taako was done having Serious Emotions. Ah well, pregnancy makes people emotional. Especially when they had a shit family.
> 
> Also, if you noticed that the rating went up, it's just because I realized that it was on General Audiences, and it has _way_ too many swears for that, tbh.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confirmation of the truth we've been knew. Lucretia's emotions get complications.

Lucretia woke early the morning of the paternity test. She'd need to hound Sebastian to get up and around, which was always easier when she'd already given herself a bit of time to get breakfast and check her overnight messages than it was when she was still early-morning grumpy herself.

She wasn't a very experienced cook, but she could make the basics. She got started on scrambled eggs for herself, and was surprised when Sebastian came to the kitchen and asked for some himself.

Well, she wasn't surprised that he'd asked for some. He always wanted whatever food someone else was making, but she was surprised that he was already awake.

A part of her was tempted to say 'no', but that was needlessly petty. It wouldn't be difficult to add a couple more eggs when she hadn't even started yet.

"Are you really gonna force me to do this?" Sebastian whined.

Lucretia took a deep breath before responding. He was trying to get to her. She reminded herself that it was a good sign that he was awake and dressed, and she should just ignore his words.

"If I thought you'd do it on your own, I wouldn't have to force you, but you don't seem willing to do that, so yes," she said.

She finished the eggs and handed him a plate. The rest of the morning passed in uncharacteristic quiet. Lucretia found herself pleasantly surprised that she didn't need to do more than raise her eyebrows at Sebastian to get him to continue getting ready for the rest of the time.

She settled into the car, and waited a while for Sebastian to join her. Just when she was about to get up to go find him, he got into the passenger seat. He didn't buckle his seat belt until she started to back up, and she reminded herself to let it go.

The silence probably wasn't a great sign, honestly. It was probably building to something. But it was nicer than arguing.

As they got closer and closer to the doctor's office that Taako had arranged for the test to happen, Sebastian began to sigh loudly and repeatedly.

"What?" Lucretia finally snapped.

"Why are you so convinced he's telling the truth anyway?" Sebastian asked, frustrated. "You're my sister. He's my ex."

"I believe him because I have no reason to doubt him," Lucretia said simply. "Neither do you, by the way."

"Oh come on," Sebastian scoffed. "You've met the guy. I'm sure you can tell that it's not impossible that there are other possibilities. Especially because he apparently only started showing signs a full month after we'd already broken up. Who knows what he was doing during that time?"

There was an insecurity to his voice that hurt Lucretia, but she also wanted to scream at the words. That wasn't an okay thing to say about someone! How did he not see that?

"Okay, but whether or not there were other people before or after your breakup, you can't rule yourself out!" She retorted.

Sebastian didn't say anything to that, which is how she knew that he knew she had a point.

"And it's the least you can do. It's important for him to know who the other father is so that he has some idea of the medical issues that might come up," she continued.

"Whatever. It's just not fair that you'd believe a stranger over your own brother," Sebastian said.

"Your word doesn't mean much and it hasn't since you were ten, so yes, I am going to believe someone else over you," Lucretia scoffed.

"Wow. That's so rude. You're such a bitch," Sebastian said, crossing his arms and sliding down into his seat.

Lucretia focused on parking in order to ignore the anger the statement inspired. She got out of the car, waited as Sebastian took his sweet time getting out himself, and walked inside.

"How about you try to just not say anything to Taako or his sister when we get up there, okay?" Lucretia said, leading them both to the elevator to the right level.

"I'll try, but if they say something, I'm gonna respond," Sebastian shrugged.

In other words, he was definitely going to say something, because, from what Lucretia knew about them, Taako and Lup weren't exactly great at shutting up either.

The elevator opened up on the doctor’s office, and Lucretia took a deep breath and sent a vague prayer for this not to go too horribly.

She spoke to the receptionist while Seb hung back, hiding his face behind a textbook. Hopefully also actually studying, but he was sharp as a whip and perceptive so Lucretia wasn’t particular worried about his grades, especially not at a time like this.

While they were waiting, Taako and Lup made their arrival. And they looked _really_ good. Lucretia couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering back to Lup every couple seconds, because, _wow_. She was wearing red, which was an amazing color on her, and her makeup was perfect.

Taako looked amazing as well, even if she wasn’t into guys and therefore not as affected by him. In fact, objectively, he looked even more stunning than Lup did, which was probably a deliberate effort since it was _his_ ex they were going to see, not Lup’s. She had no one to impress here.

He was wearing a nice black shirt with red accents, and a tight pair of pants, but more than the clothes, it was his overall vibe that was attractive. He acted confident and sure of himself at all times, Lucretia already knew, but today it was turned up to eleven. And the low level exhaustion that he’d exuded since she met him was gone, replaced with a fun, cocky energy.

And a quick glance at Seb told Lucretia that it was having the desired affect. He looked speechless and impressed and jealous.

So they were off to a _great_ start.

They went to check in as well, and Taako walked just out of Seb’s reach in the process- enough for him to get a good look, but not to even think about touching him.

Lucretia had to hide a grin behind her hand at the way Seb’s eyes followed Taako all the way.

She was a little surprised when they came over and sat beside her. She hadn’t expected them to acknowledge her at all today.

“You’re asshole’s sister, right?” Lup asked her, loud enough for Sebastian to hear.

“I- suppose if you mean Sebastian-“ Lucretia said, trying her best to play along.

“You know it, babe,” Lup said. “Had to ask, because I couldn’t believe that bastard could have such a a hot sister.”

Lucretia’s mind went blank as she tried to process what was happening here. Probably Lup was trying to mess with Sebastian somehow, but she didn’t understand the reasoning or how she ought to respond. Most likely it would work best if she played along, right?

She didn’t need to do much to play along, because she could tell that she was already blushing fantastically.

“Thank you,” she finally managed. Speaking words brought her back to herself a little, and she sent a wry glance towards Taako, who looked to be trying to find more and more creative ways to flip Sebastian off. “Same to you.”

Lup barked a laugh at the words, leaning closer. Lucretia’s mind threatened to go blank again, but thinking of it as messing with Seb helped keep her sane.

“I gotta say that’s fair, but can we at least agree that my brother is the fun kind of bastard, and yours is the downer kind?” Lup said, and Lucretia didn’t think before answering.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” she nodded.

Seb made an offended noise behind her, and Lucretia jumped at the sudden closeness.

“Hey, I mean, you already know my opinion on this,” she defended to him. She wanted to teach him a lesson, not make him think she actively hated him after all.

“They’re ready for us,” was all he said, pointing toward an open door ahead of them.

Lucretia got up quickly, striding ahead with Seb through the open door.

“What the hell was that?” Seb hissed into her ear.

Lucretia just shrugged, honestly still a little confused herself.

Seb didn't get a chance to say more, because then Lup and Taako caught up to them. Lup bumped into Sebastian, not particularly subtly, knocking him off balance and leaving him rubbing at his shoulder, shooting her a glare.

"Oops," Lup said, without even looking at him. Taako snickered.

Lucretia reminded herself that an office specializing in paternity testing had surely seen a lot worse than this to make herself stop worrying about the scene they were causing.

They were led to the testing room, and any further hijinks were stopped before they could start by the nurse immediately directing Taako and Lup to one side of the room, and Lucretia and Seb to the other. She told her and Seb to wait there while she started the process.

Then she went to Taako and Lup, glancing between them for a moment in confusion.

"Ah, which of you are we testing today?" she inquired.

Taako raised an arm to wave, then shoved it into the nurse's space.

"Let's get this done, homie," he said.

"You can just sit down at the table here. I'm not ready to draw blood quite yet," the nurse pushed his arm out of her face, and Taako shrugged, sitting down where directed.

"So we'll need blood samples from both the carrier and potential donator. Can I have you both sit at the same table safely or do I need to do this separately?" She asked, looking between the two sides of the room.

Lucretia bristled a bit at the words, insulted at the suggestion that her brother was a danger. Her brother was a _nerd_ with a lousy attitude, nothing more.

Fortunately, Taako's response interrupted her own.

"He's chill enough, I guess," he shrugged, smacking the table in front of him in an inviting gesture. There was a grin on his face that Lucretia was sure they couldn't trust, but at least he wasn't acting like Seb was a real threat.

Sebastian seemed to know better than to trust that grin too, as he looked at the seat warily before heading over.

"Hey, Taako," he greeted as he sat.

"Hey, dickhead," Taako said back.

Which- wasn't so bad, Lucretia supposed.

The nurse stepped in between them, apparently practiced at de-escalation, and took Taako's arm.

"These tables are specially designed to efficiently test and compare blood samples," she explained, pressing Taako's arm beside a thin slot in the surface.

A shimmer of magic appeared over his arm and hand, disinfecting them. The nurse quickly took her sample, and settled it into the slot when she'd finished.

She moved over to Seb, doing the same.

"It shouldn't take long to determine the results," she said. "Please remain calm in the meantime."

The silence between the twins as they waited was worrying. They were planning something, Lucretia was sure of it.

But she didn't have long to think about, because then a display panel on the table was beeping softly, and the nurse went to look at it.

"Positive match. The embryo carried by Taako no-last-name-given is proven as the offspring of Sebastian McDonald," she explained. "I'll file the papers now. Would either of you like a copy of the records?"

"Oh, for sure," Taako said. He turned to Sebastian, a smug grin on his face. "Told ya, asshole."

As he said it, Lup moved her wand subtly behind them. And immediately, Sebastian's clothes started to change, turning white with dark text covering them reading 'I'm the father.'

Lucretia stared in shocked amusement. Sebastian's face twisted in irritation and embarrassment and he stormed out of the room.

His clothes announced 'you're the father' in a tinny, mechanical voice as he left.

Lucretia giggled, and slapped a hand over her mouth to hold back any more laughter.

"I should go," she managed. "I'll- see you later?" She directed the question at Lup, since Taako was too busy cackling to respond anyway.

Lup was grinning widely, clearly just barely avoiding her own laughter, but she shot a thumbs up in Lucretia's direction.

Lucretia let herself giggle a little bit longer before turning and running after Seb.

-

She found him already back in the care, pouting and wearing nothing but his underwear. She wrinkled her nose as she noticed, but said nothing.

"Thanks a ton, sis," he greeted, bitter. She winced at the nickname. He used that only when he was really pissed at her.

"I had no idea something like that would happen," she defended.

"You couldn't have guessed? You know he's an ass. You literally said so to his sister," Sebastian glared at her.

"It's not like I know him very well, Seb. We share one class, and we never even met when you two were together," she said.

There was silence as she started the car.

"The transmutation whatever with your clothes did seem a little much," Lucretia said, a peace offering. It was funny, definitely, but not as much now that it was over, and she was looking at her brother, mortified and upset about it.

"You think?" Sebastian scoffed. "He's already getting child support out of me, he didn't have to rub it in my face."

Lucretia made a small noise of surprise at that.

"Sperm providers have to do certain things after they're legally proven as bio parents," Sebastian explained. "I thought you knew that, and that was why you were so insistent about all this."

"I did," Lucretia said, voice small. "I didn't realize that you-"

"You were trying to trick me?" Sebastian said, wounded. "God, Lu, I thought you knew me better than that. 'Course I'll pay support. I- it's my responsibility, right?"

"You didn't seem like you were going to do anything about it," Lucretia said, shame filling her up. "Figured I'd have to make you."

"I shouldn't have said that stuff. I should have been more careful, and I definitely shouldn't have acted like that when he told me. I fucked up, okay? I get it. But I'm an adult Lu. I know how I'm supposed to act. And you just-" Sebastian huffed, leaning away and slumping in his chair. "Just let me handle my shit myself, okay?"

Lucretia fell silent, embarrassed at being caught and guilty about the whole thing.

She stopped at the mall and grabbed Seb some new clothes before they got home. She ignored the texts from Lup that pinged in over the next couple hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends. I realized, as I was working on this story recently that I accidentally fell into the stereotype of black men as absent fathers. I was not intending to do such, but even unthinkingly, it still retains offensiveness. As such, I apologize right now for anyone that I may have hurt with this.
> 
> As an explanation (not an excuse), I can only say that I was thinking only of biological realities of dark skinned individuals producing dark-skinned children, and I didn't want to invent an OC that would be persistently present throughout the rest of the story. I realize now that I should have thought about the implications of what I was writing before I wrote it.
> 
> Since coming to this realization, I have made the decision to slightly alter my plans for this story, in order to present Seb in a more sensitive light, as you may be able to tell from the ending of this chapter.
> 
> Thank you for your patience, and I'm sorry once again for any hurt that I caused.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to see the parasite!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter features some hints at how elven gender development works in this story! since Lup and Taako are both trans, and I am too ADHD and anxious to just shut up and let that sit without any explanation of my in-depth headcanon to make the matter make sense in my head.
> 
> and if you're curious, I have a little oneshot about my headcanon elven gender stuff that deals with me projecting my Gender Feels onto Taako, and can also be read as something of a background to this fic. it stands on its own, but my headcanon is that this would have happened in the past of this story.

The day of the appointment had finally come, and Lup was so ready to get this over with. Taako had been a nervous wreck about it, but he refused to admit that to anyone except her to do anything to stop being so nervous. She understood, honestly, but it was driving her crazy. She couldn't be her brother's emotional support twin all day everyday.

There wasn't anything to do in the waiting room, so Lup decided to send a quick text to Lucretia.

_Lup: Hey. at the doc's. gonna get a looksee at the parasite. i'll give you the deets_

The response was quick in coming today, which Lup was relieved to see. Lucretia hadn’t responded to her since the paternity test, and Lup hated to think that they’d scared her off.

_Lucretia: !!! I appreciate that!_

Taako gave her a curious look, and Lup realized that she was smiling. Before she could say anything, Taako shoved his face into her personal space to see the texts. Then he rolled his eyes.

"Gay dumbass," he muttered, fondly.

Lup shoved at his shoulder. It wasn't that serious. He was reading into something that wasn't that deep. Yeah, Lucretia was pretty, and yeah, she seemed like someone Lup could potentially like under different circumstances. But the situation they'd met under was way too awkward to pursue anything. Especially because she barely knew her! If they dated and broke up, it would be crazy awkward anytime the kiddo wanted to visit their other aunt.

But she didn't need to argue it too much with Taako. Not only did it not matter that much, but it was probably good for him to have a distraction from his situation. A crush was exactly the kind of dumb, meaningless stuff that they should be worrying about at the point, not all this pregnancy/baby/childhood trauma bullshit.

"Taako?" the nurse called, and Lup felt Taako tense up at her side.

_Lup: Ok heading in!_

Lup sent another quick text, both to actually give Lucretia the information, and to make Taako roll his eyes again. As he did so, Lup grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze.

As they stood, Taako kept hold of her hand, pulling her along behind him and shooting a glare at the nurse and receptionist when they glanced at Lup, as if they were going to protest her coming along. Lup resisted the urge to snort. In actuality, the receptionist had already privately told her how glad he and the rest of the of staff were that Taako had such a supportive sister with him.

But Taako wouldn't appreciate the idea of strangers worrying about him.

When they got into the room, there was already someone there.

"Hello, Taako. I'm Doctor Howard," they introduced.

"Uh, yeah. Hail and well met, dude," Taako responded. He slunk over to the exam table, waving awkwardly at Lup. "My twin's here. Lup."

Lup waved a greeting, and Doc Howard smiled, before turning back to Taako.

"Okay, we’ve got a few more questions to go over real quick before the fun part," they said.

As they started asking, Lup tuned out as she realized there were more questions about her brother's sex life and habits than she really wanted to have the answers to. Instead, she turned back to her phone and texted Lucretia again. She didn't have anything new to tell her, so instead she just sent her memes she had saved.

"Alright, are we ready to take a look?" The doc said, and Lup's attention immediately turned back to the present moment.

"Yes!" She chimed.

Taako had his hands fisted tightly, and he was tense. Doctor Howard sent him a concerned look, before looking back at Lup.

"He's ready too. He's just being dumb. I can tell, I'm his twin," Lup explained.

"I'd prefer to hear that from him, if you don't mind," they said.

"Yeah, compadre, let's do this," Taako finally said.

"Great," the doctor smiled and approached Taako with a smooth stone covered in various runes.

"So this will transmit the images onto the screen here," they explained, gesturing as they explained. "I'll need you to lean back and lift up your shirt for this part, alright?"

Taako did as instructed without a word, nervous and eager in equal measures. Lup leaned closer to the screen, mainly just excited herself.

The doctor rubbed the stone a few times to keep it from being too cold and set it down. They moved it around for a moment, before stopping with a small noise of satisfaction.

"There we go," they said, gesturing to the screen.

Lup had to admit, she was a little disappointed. She'd known the thing would be small and not really person shaped yet, but she still found herself a tiny bit underwhelmed.

Taako, though, kept staring at the screen, an expression of mingled disappointment and relief on his face.

"Seems you're about ten weeks along," the doctor said. "No apparent abnormalities in development at this point."

"Good- that's, uh, good to know," Taako said, looking back at them.

"Half-elf pregnancies typically last a little longer than human pregnancies, and a bit shorter than elf pregnancy lengths. Unfortunately, this makes it more difficult to determine a specific due date, but you can expect somewhere around 12 months or so," they explained.

"Excellent," Taako grinned. Lup had to agree that a shorter pregnancy was a definite benefit of a half-elf baby, even if it came at the cost of being unsure about a lot of what to expect.

The doctor moved the stone around a little more.

"To answer a question, I'm sure you may have wondered given your family history," they said, gesturing between her and Taako, "it's a single."

"Ha!" Lup said, to cover up Taako's relief. "Told ya!"

She held a hand out for the money she'd earned. She really hadn't felt confident in the matter herself, but now that she'd won the bet, she was gonna take her prize.

Taako grabbed for his bag and handed it over, grumbling slightly at the loss.

Doctor Howard grinned in confused amusement, before moving on.

"It's far too early to tell sex, at this point. Even for a half-elf," they said. "Generally, half-elves follow the sex development patterns of humans, rather than elves, though there are exceptions. Still, most likely we'll be able to tell by the twentieth week."

Lup tilted her head curiously at that. She knew that elves developed sex markers a lot later than any other species, but that still seemed crazy early.

"Are you sure?" Taako said, just as surprised as her.

"Not completely. But that is the average. Pregnancies between different races can have lots of surprises, of course, but it's a fairly safe bet," Doctor Howard chuckled. "Human embryos have their sex encoded into their DNA from the beginning, hard as that may be to believe for elves. And that speeds up the process."

Lup knew that. So she tried to wipe the surprise off of her face. Still crazy though.

Taako was digging around in his bag again, and he pulled out the form Lucretia filled out, unfolding it carefully and handing it to the doc.

"Almost forgot this," he said.

"Oh wait! I should text Luce!" Lup said, reminded suddenly by the sight.

"You've been texting her since we got here," Taako said, exasperated.

"She wants to know! You said you didn't mind telling her stuff," Lup defended.

Doctor Howard cleared their throat, and Lup looked over to see them tucking the form into the paper folder they held.

"I don't want to interrupt, but our time will be up soon, and I wanted to ask if you wanted to hear the heartbeat," they offered, smiling.

Lup really wanted to, but it was Taako's decision. She looked over to him to assess the chance that she'd get the opportunity to hear her nibling's heartbeat, and ignored the tiny jolt of surprise she felt at seeing him already nodding, looking almost excited himself.

"I'll just need to activate one of the other runes, excuse me," Doctor Howard said, stepping close to Taako and fiddling with the runestone for a moment.

When the sound came, Lup almost didn't recognize it as a heartbeat. It was very fast. But the rhythmic thumping quickly solidified into something recognizable to her ears, and she found a grin breaking out on her face. The little bastard had a working heart! They were alive!

"Is it supposed to sound like that?" Taako asked, ears twitching around at the sound.

"Yes, it's perfectly normal for it to be that fast. Fetal heart rate is much higher than that of the average adult or child," Doctor Howard explained.

"Cool, cool," Taako said, a bit of relief apparent in his voice. Lup hadn't been too bothered by the speed, but she was glad to know that as well. She saw Taako start to smile as he kept listening.

"The spell is a modified Detect Heartbeats," Doctor Howard explained. "We've got a pamphlet with information on casting it, if you'd like to take that home."

Taako nodded, still listening intently.

"Thank you," Lup said.

"Just doing my job," Doctor Howard said, watching them fondly. "Best part of my job, actually."

Lup could imagine. It was pretty great for her, hearing the little heart, watching Taako be affected a Real Emotion- for someone who specialized in helping pregnant people and didn't have to deal with bullshit about how to care for the thing, it must be a highlight.

"Just a few more things to discuss before we run out of time," Doctor Howard said, reaching for the runestone and deactivating it.

Taako's ears dipped in disappointment at the loss of the sound, but he nodded to the doctor anyway.

"You've been taking the prenatal vitamins we prescribed, right? It's very important, especially for mixed-species babies," they asked.

"Yep, got it," Taako said. Lup hadn't been actively aware of that, but it made sense. Humans and elves were pretty compatible, but they were distinctly different species, so of course they'd need different stuff.

"You can choose to supplement some of those needs with dietary choices as well, if you'd like. It can be complicated, though. It's important to be careful of what you eat during this time. I can offer some resources for that option, though we don't recommend that choice for those who are still experiencing morning sickness," they continued. "I assume that you are still experiencing that, yes?"

"Yeah. Don't recommend it!" Taako said.

Lup wrinkled her nose. She couldn't say she recommended it either. While it was obviously worse for Taako, her new routine tended to involve holding her brother's hair as he puked at least once a day, and she couldn't say she was a fan.

Doctor Howard gave Taako a sympathetic look, making a note on their clipboard.

"Has the medicine been helping at all?" they asked.

Lup hadn't known about those either. When the hell had Taako even gotten the time to pick all this stuff up?

She felt proud of him for it though. He wasn't always the most responsible person in the world, so it was nice to know that he was taking this seriously.

Taako waved his hand in dubious agreement.

"Better than nothing, I guess," he offered.

"I'm sorry that it hasn't been working very well for you," Doc Howard said, sympathetically. "I can't guarantee anything, of course, but for most people, morning sickness tends to taper off as you enter the second trimester. Again, it's difficult to determine an exact date on that with mixed-species gestational periods, but that will likely arrive with the next month or two."

"Two more months?" Taako groaned, annoyed.

"I know. But you've made it this far, and it's getting closer than you think, I assure you," Doctor Howard said. "The second trimester mark is also noteworthy because once that threshold has been passed, the likelihood of miscarriage drops severely."

Taako went very still at the words, and Lup felt herself go a tiny bit pale as well. That wasn't something she'd considered, but it was totally a thing that was possible. And they still had two whole months before they were in the safety zone for that. And even then, the possibility never dropped to zero, did it?

"Miscarriage?" Taako managed.

"I know it's not something you'd like to think about, and I’m sorry to bring it up. But I don't think that you have much to worry about there. The fetus is healthy and developing properly, and there are no obvious warning signs of any issues. And you're young and healthy. As long as you take care of yourself, the chances of miscarriage are low, and they'll only get lower as the fetus continues developing," Doctor Howard assured.

"Right, yeah," Taako said, eyes still a little wide.

Doctor Howard glanced toward the clock on the wall and winced.

"I can speak to you about this further, if you'd like, but our appointment time has reached its end. Call me if you have any question, okay?" they offered.

Taako nodded, and let Lup take the lead out of the room and down toward the front desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello frens. next week, another crew cameo appears!! They all work for/attend classes associated with the same organization!! it's not crazy that they'd run into each other pre-canon!! that's my story and i'm sticking to it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has it all! Panic attacks, Magnus cameo, baby clothes, crushes, siblings messing with each other! Also, yeah, this definitely moving into some solid Lupcretia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longer than usual because I had a lot of stuff that wouldn't work anywhere else in the timeline, so yeah! Enjoy! Lupcretia is happening even more, which wasn't planned, but I'm not opposed. Hope you guys aren't either! Probably gonna have to update the tags a little.

Miscarriage. How had that never occurred to him? He should have thought about that.

It wasn't likely, he tried to remind himself. It probably wasn't going to happen.

He should focus on other things instead. Like school work. The rest of his life wasn't going away just because his mind decided to go crazy over something that wasn't even happening.

Despite the rationality of his thoughts, Taako couldn't bring himself to actually follow through on them. His mind kept spiraling. He couldn't stand the thought of losing the thing _now._ He'd finally let himself actually want it!

He was so deep in thought that he forgot himself and where he was- namely, in public- for a little bit. It took the realization that someone was speaking to him to bring himself back.

"Hey, buddy? You okay?"

Taako startled backwards away from the stranger speaking to him, but he was already in the corner of the tiny booth in the coffee shop, so there wasn't really anywhere to go.

"Fine," he managed, watching the human in front of him carefully.

The guy was about the same height as he was, but he was a lot broader. Clearly more of a physical type of a guy than a magic user or anything else. He had reddish hair and big, worried eyes.

"Are you sure?" he asked, as those worried eyes looked Taako over. "You seemed kind of out of it there."

"I'm good, homie." Taako waved a hand dismissively, despite the way that his mind was screaming and his fingers were trembling.

And oh. Great. He wasn't sure if it was the anxiety or the morning sickness or some dreadful combination of both, but his stomach had started churning too.

"Did you come here with anybody? Can I... help you somehow?" the guy asked, looking around worriedly as if someone would pop up to relieve him of this duty he'd taken on himself for no apparent reason.

"Nah, man, you're good," Taako insisted. This guy needed to fuck off before Taako puked on him.

"Hey, just breathe, okay?" the guy said, and oh. When had he started to have trouble with that? Taako wasn't sure, but he was definitely breathing too fast now, the oxygen not quite getting through to his brain like it was supposed to.

He did so, because even if this guy was intruding on his personal shit, he wasn't _wrong_ about the breathing thing.

"You wanna get out of here? Go somewhere quieter?" the guy asked, watching Taako carefully.

Taako nodded, because he did. Started to gather his shit, kept dropping stuff, godsdamn he was too clumsy. He had to get that under control before the baby got here- if he didn't fuck it up first.

The guy leaned over and started to help, holding Taako's things with steady hands.

"Thanks," Taako choked out.

"No problem," the guy smiled. "Is it okay if I touch you? Just to help you get somewhere else."

Taako shrugged, and the guy lifted one arm protectively over Taako's shoulder, but didn't let it drop to actually touch him. He led Taako carefully away from the cafe, finding an empty room and ushering them both inside.

Taako planned to say something, but before he could, his stomach started protesting again, and he was very glad to see that the room had a trash can nearby.

"Ew," the man who'd helped him muttered, seemingly torn between stepping closer to help and leaving.

Taako snorted, amused by the reaction. He seemed a decent guy, but Taako could hardly blame him for being grossed out.

"It's chill, my dude. You don't gotta do anything," Taako said, leaning back against the wall.

"Okay," the guy said, offering a sympathetic smile. "You still gonna try to say you're fine? Cause that must have been a hell of panic attack to make you puke."

"Nah, not really," Taako deflected. "I mean, yeah, unpleasant, but actually, this," he gestured to trash and wrinkled his nose, "was just morning sickness. Not nerves. Thanks, though, for checking and whatever."

"Oh. Uh, are you feeling better now, though? On both fronts? If you need to vent, dude, I'm cool with that. No pressure or anything. Just maybe easier to vent to a stranger, ya know?" the guy asked. "Or I could... get you some... water?" He sounded painfully unsure of what to do, in a way that was endearing, not that Taako would let it show.

It was awful sweet of him to offer, and he might have a point. If it didn't work, not like Taako ever had to see the dude again.

Still, he only shrugged in response, not loving the idea of opening up to a stranger- especially considering the guy had already seen him so vulnerable already.

"I'll get you that water," the guy said, hurrying out of the room.

Taako watched him go, not really expecting him to come back again. The guy had been nice and helped him out, and he'd repaid the kindness by being surly, so he could hardly blame him. Not like it mattered anyway. Taako didn't need some stranger poking his nose in his business.

Still, it was harder to hold off the nerves without the presence of another person. He wished he'd asked the doc more about any signs that anything had gone wrong. Better to know that as soon as it started right? If he noticed fast enough, maybe they could do something to save the thing.

Unless there was no chance of saving it. Then maybe it would be better to live in blissful ignorance for a while.

Taako realized that he'd pulled his knees up to his chest and reminded himself to breathe. This was hormones and senseless worries, nothing more. He was fucking up his bad bitch image by having anxiety and he needed to stop it.

The door opened back up, and the guy came back. He had a bottle of water in his hands, and he handed it to Taako.

"Drink that. And breathe, okay?" he said.

"How do you know what to do?" Taako asked. He’d meant for it to sound more like doubt in the guy’s skills then it did, but he figured the point would still get across.

“My sister gets panic attacks a lot! I help her sometimes!” The guy apparently didn’t get the point, as he spoke with pride and smiled widely at Taako.

Well, it was whatever. If the guy took it as genuine gratitude, more power to him. Didn’t hurt Taako.

He stood up again after a moment, still feeling a little shaky but back to himself for the most part.

“Hey, homie, thanks or whatever, but I’m good and I’m out, ‘kay?” Taako said, gathering his things.

“Uh, yeah, okay,” the guy said, still watching Taako carefully as he left the room. Taako decided to believe that he was watching his ass, instead of admitting that the guy was probably worried something would happen.

Didn’t need to be that honest with himself, after all.

“My name’s Magnus! Magnus Burnsides! I’m-“ the guy called.

“Yeah, uh, hail and well met,” Taako said, closing the door behind him.

-

He didn’t tell Lup about the incident. Why should he? What good would it do? It happened and it sucked, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

He just had to accept that things were going to suck for a while. He couldn’t do anything to change that at the moment or for the foreseeable future so he just had to deal.

When he got back to the apartment, Lup was there, digging through some bags from the store.

“Groceries?” Taako assumed, glancing into them as he passed by, prepared to help her put them away.

“Yep,” Lup agreed, but she quickly shoved one bag behind her back, refusing to let him see into it.

Taako raised an eyebrow at that, but he didn’t press it. He'd figure out what was in there sooner or later, and it would be better if Lup let her guard down first, instead of just trying to grab it out of her hands. His center of balance had been off lately, and she’d have a definite advantage at keeping shit away from him. Not about to embarrass himself like that.

As they finished up with the groceries, Lup pulled the secret bag back out.

"I was gonna wait to do anything like this, but I saw this and couldn't fucking resist," she said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small scrap of fabric something- oh. A baby clothing- a onesie or whatever it's called. It read "My Aunt is like my Dad, but Cooler."

"You shouldn't have," Taako started. "Parasite's not gonna go out wearing such an obvious lie."

Lup scoffed, a bit of relief slipping into her expression at the fact that he didn't freak out about it.

"You really think you're gonna be able to keep up with me on the cool factor when you've got a sticky monster crawling on you and keeping you up all night? I'd love to see _that_ ," she said, setting the onesie down on the counter, and pulling out some very small socks.

"Oh my gods, those are tiny," Taako said, immediately, momentarily disregarding the first part of her comment in favor of grabbing the socks and staring, because _how_. How could any person be little enough to need those?

"I know!" Lup shouted. "Get this, apparently a ton of newborns are so small, these are literally too big at first."

"How?" Taako demanded. "Also- the little thing is going to be messy, yeah, but also adorable, natch, so it'll even out."

"Ehhh," Lup made a skeptical face at him. "Maybe when they're bigger, sure. But newborns are kinda ugly, not gonna lie. You can't say it, because it's rude, but they are. All scrunched up and red and shit, and they can't smile or anything either. So as long as it's _this_ little, it's gonna be accurate."

Taako just flipped her off, digging into the bag and seeing a few other pieces of tiny, tiny clothing. Lup hadn't gotten much, and the rest was pretty plain, but it was blowing his mind how little all of it was.

He supposed that they had to be pretty little, to actually get born without killing their parent, but it was still hard to imagine.

He scooped the clothes up into his arms to put them away when it occurred to him that he had no idea where to put any of this.

"We're gonna have to move, aren't we?" He groaned.

"Yeah, probably," Lup agreed. "But that's way too far away too worry about. Just stuff it in your room for now."

Taako grumbled under his breath, but figured she had a point. Their lease wouldn't run out for months and the little guy was even further away. Still wouldn't be fun trying to move later on, because by then he'd probably have a lot more trouble with the whole 'moving around' thing.

He hadn't started to show at all yet, which was apparently normal, even if it seemed kind of weird to him. His whole fucking life had changed since he found out he was pregnant, and yet, there was still nothing to show for it. He didn't mind not being huge and awkward already, but something this big seemed like it should be noticeable.

But once it was noticeable, then he'd have to deal with reactions. Everybody he knew would be able to see it. And they'd have questions, or want to talk about it out of politeness or whatever. And strangers would be able to tell even. And they would think- who even knew what? It was going to be another layer on the bullshit sandwich.

He could handle it though. He could handle a lot of bullshit, and it had to happen for the kid to get here. And when the kid got here, that crap would be over with, and he'd have his baby. And that would be good. Probably. He hoped.

-

Lucretia figured that it might be best if she kept working with the twins on the paperwork for the child support. Now that she knew that Sebastian didn't plan on skipping out completely, it was less necessary that she play a role in the process, but it still might be the wisest decision. She had a rapport with the twins that Sebastian was lacking, and, despite everything, she actually liked seeing them. So it wouldn't be a hardship to work through this with them and relay the relevant information to her brother later.

Today, for the first time, Lucretia had been invited over to the twins' place. Lup had texted her the address of their apartment, and Lucretia was curiously looking around as she made her way over.

The place wasn't far from where the actual IPRE classes took place, which wasn't surprising. Still, it was an area that Lucretia wasn't very familiar with, and she was careful to keep track of where she was so she wouldn't find herself hopelessly lost.

It was a nice area, if definitely designed for college age kids. Lucretia and Sebastian still lived with their parents, in a completely separate part of town, and that might make it difficult for them to see the baby very often. If Seb even wanted to, and if Taako and Lup even let them.

Lucretia knew that _she_ wanted to, at least. And she thought- hoped- she'd have a decent chance of being allowed that.

It was strange, thinking of her brother as a parent. And Seb's attitude wasn't doing anything to help that. But even if her brother never actually acted as a dad to this child, Lucretia still found herself thinking of them as family. It was irrational, maybe. There was nothing tying them other than blood, and it wasn't even a direct connection. But she couldn't shake it regardless.

The baby was her brother's kid, which meant that they were family. Family- family was _important._ It wasn't fair to take away the kid's only chance of accessing that part of their family just because Seb was an immature dick. And- it wasn't fair to her, either, that she cared about the baby already and she could have lost any chance of seeing them because of her brother's irresponsibility.

As she got closer to the twins' apartment, Lucretia forced herself to focus on the numbers of each address, rather than let her mind run wild.

She found the right building, and made her way inside and up to the twins' unit quickly, pausing only briefly when she arrived at the door.

It was quickly answered by Lup, who smiled brightly and grabbed Lucretia's hand to pull her inside.

Taako was in the kitchen, cooking something that smelled really good. He waved as Lup pulled Lucretia behind her into the kitchen and shoved her towards a chair, before joining her brother.

"What'd you bring us?" Lup asked, indicating the envelope Lucretia had been fiddling since she'd arrived.

"A gift," Lucretia said, pushing the envelope over.

Both twins looked at the envelope curiously, almost eerie in the similarity of their expressions, but Taako was the one to grab the envelope from the counter.

He opened it, pulling out the money inside.

"My favorite kind of gift," he said, grinning.

"Nice!" Lup agreed, looking over at Taako excitedly.

"What's the occasion?" Taako asked, pocketing the money and resuming his cooking.

"It's from Seb. You could call it the first support payment, I suppose," Lucretia explained.

"Why's he suddenly being nice?" Taako asked, turning to face Lucretia as he spoke. "He doesn't have to fork anything over yet. What's in it for him?"

"This counts for some of the support he owes during the pre-natal period. Seb decided he'd rather make a bunch of small payments than a couple big ones later on," Lucretia said. "Figured it would be easiest for everyone. He doesn't have to save up so much, you guys get cash faster."

"Best for everyone, huh?" Lup said, a little skeptically.

"Yes," Lucretia responded, exasperated. "He's not a monster, you know. If it's good for him _and_ good for you, then he's not going to go out of his way to make things harder just to spite you guys."

Taako and Lup exchanged a quick look at her words, and Lucretia got the feeling that they were having a whole conversation without her.

"Still an ass, though," Lup muttered, finally.

"Never said he wasn't," Lucretia said, a peace offering.

The kitchen fell into silence for a moment- not quite awkward but not entirely comfortable either. Lucretia found herself tapping her fingers against the counter nervously, wishing she had a notebook to doodle in.

"Hey, now that we have more cash, we can go supplies shopping," Lup said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, hell yeah!" Taako immediately perked up at her words, excitement breaking across his features. "Time to make a bombass nursery!"

The juxtaposition of the words made Lucretia grin in amusement. But she was glad that the twins were getting excited about this. She wanted her nibling to have a good family and childhood, and it was something of a relief to see the obvious affection they twins had for them already. She liked Taako and Lup, but they didn't exactly give off mature or parental vibes. Lucretia hadn't been worried about it, exactly, but she liked the reassurance that they cared anyway.

"You know any good baby stores, Luce?" Taako asked.

Lucretia hadn't been expecting the question, but she responded eagerly.

"I do! I actually helped out on a ranking of local baby-centered supplies shops only a few months ago, so I can look over my notes from that and give recommendations."

"Ranking? For what?" Lup asked.

"I'm a writer. I do some work for a local media group. I haven't done many reviews in a while, not since I was a junior writer, but a friend asked for some help on that project," Lucretia explained, sheepish at forgetting to give context.

"Wait, how old are you? If you're already a senior writer, or whatever?" Lup asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I'm not a senior writer, just not a junior writer anymore. I've been working for them since I was sixteen and I'm nineteen now," Lucretia explained, letting a little pride slip into her voice. She was a good writer, and she knew it. She'd gotten the job as part of the youth outreach and education program, but most of the teens employed through that program were temporary hires. She was one of the few who proved herself enough to stay on longer.

"Damn, that's pretty good for a baby!" Taako said, raising a hand for a high five that Lucretia returned with a giggle.

"Thanks. But I'm not a baby, and you probably don't want to call me one," she said.

"You're nineteen. I hadn't lost all my milk teeth by nineteen. You're a baby," Taako said.

"Okay, I guess, but if I'm a baby and my brother is a year _younger_ than me, what does that make you?" Lucretia responded.

Taako and Lup both made disgusted faces at the words, which made Lucretia laugh.

"Okay, shit, you're an adult, just don't ever remind me of that again!" Taako said, mock gagging. "I'm never fucking dating a human again, gods."

"Deal," Lucretia said, still laughing a little.

"And here I was trying to be nice," Taako said, face relaxing out of the disgust. "You're an ass too, huh? Just a sneaky one."

"Takes one to know one," Lucretia said, dry. "How'd you think I had you two figured out so fast?"

"Hey, non-assholes are boring anyway," Lup shrugged. "This way, we can actually be friends."

Lucretia smiled at the suggestion that they were friends. She wasn't a complete loner, but she hadn't made very many friendships here so far. She was glad to have more among that number.

Still, amongst the happiness was the slightest twinge of discomfort at the words. She wasn't quite sure why, and mentally prodded at the feeling, reminding herself that this was a good thing. She liked the twins and she liked spending time with them. Yes, it may be a little awkward and complicated because of the situation with Seb, but overall this was good.

The twins finished cooked, and started to plate their food. Lucretia was surprised when they made up a third plate for her, and took it from Lup gratefully.

"Thank you. This smells wonderful," Lucretia said.

"Natch! We're fucking awesome cooks," Lup boasted, and Lucretia believed it, as she took a bite and had to hold herself back from eating it too quickly.

"You certainly are," Lucretia agreed, between mouthfuls.

Taako and Lup both preened under the praise, but Lucretia only had eyes for Lup's happy expression.

Oh.

Shit.

Lucretia almost choked on her next bite as it hit her. She had a crush on Lup. And she couldn't do anything about it, because she couldn't take the risk of making things awkward with one of her nibling's only family members. Because it would be awkward, because no way would Lup feel the same. Not only was she absolutely gorgeous and amazing, but this whole conversation had proved that Lup saw her as a child and a friend, not a potential partner.

She willed herself to calm down and not react. She didn't need to say or do anything about this. It would pass as long as she reminded herself that it wasn't going anywhere. It would be fine.

"I'll make sure to send you my notes," Lucretia said, turning to Taako and changing the subject. "On the baby stores."

"Nah, actually, you should just come with," Taako responded. "I'm sure you write great and all, but I don't feel like reading all that when you can just tell us."

"I- are you sure?" Lucretia asked. "I don't mind- but it's not my apartment or my baby. I don't want to intrude."

"That's even better. You can be a neutral opinion when me and Lulu start bitching over what to get," Taako said, grinning mischievously at Lup as he said it.

"Then, yes, I suppose I can come," Lucretia agreed, trying not to think about the fact that she was agreeing to spend hours shopping for cute and domestic things with the girl she'd just realized she had a crush on. Taako would be there, and none of this was her stuff, so it would be fine.

"Nice. Me or Lu will text you with the deets, okay?" Taako said, still looking at Lup as he said it. Then- "Ow!" - the look turned into a scowl.

"Whoops! I gotta be more careful where I swing my legs, sorry 'Ko."


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby shopping, crushes, dysphoria, oh my! This chapter is sickeningly cute, except for the moments when it's not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi friends!! this chapter comes out after a heck of a day for me, since my yesterday featured my wifi going out, my car heat going out and getting mild frostnip (i'm fine) and a minor car accident (still fine.) but that's how it be on this bitch of an earth.
> 
> This chapter features some hints at my gender headcanon for Taako, which you can find more detail about in my fic unfair. But basically, it's nonbinary Taako hours.
> 
> This chapter also, as the above note hints, features some gender dysphoria. If that's something that squicks you out or triggers you or you'd otherwise like to avoid it, it starts at "He stared out the window as they drove, too caught up in his own thoughts to pay much attention." and ends at the page break into the next section. Will update the tags for warning purposes.

Taako had never understood Lup-with-a-crush. Because Lup-with-a-crush was a hopeless disaster that replaced his normally badass and confident sister with a total nerd who couldn’t stop sighing wistfully while giving ‘if-only’ eyes to said crush.

And like, Taako got that crushes could be intimidating. It was terrifying to have emotions about other people. Especially if they might not have any emotions back at you.

But he had always operated with the attitude that it was better to just go for it, and fuck ‘em if they turned you down. All the better for getting those pesky feelings out of inconvenience territory.

If they felt the same, great. But dragging it out like Lup did just seemed excruciating. Pulling the band-aid off slowly only ever made it hurt longer after all.

And as the awesome brother that he was, he was determined to help Lup along in the process. Taako didn’t know Lucretia enough to have a clear idea on what her feelings toward Lup might be, but she’d definitely been blushy over her a time or two, so he thought that there was a good chance of it working out.

Lup was not particularly appreciative of his efforts, though.

The apartment had been witness to two separate freak-outs over what to wear this morning. Lup's nerves had manifested over what to wear on the shopping trip- _you always look great, Lulu, it doesn't fucking matter_ \- which Taako had been entirely unsupportive about, because he'd been having his own freakout over the fact that he was starting to show a little - _oh come on, Koko, that's nothing, I can barely tell and I'm your twin who sees you everyday._

So they were both feeling a little grumpy as they left the apartment that morning.

Lucretia had offered to drive them, because her car had a lot of space and could carry their supplies easily, and she was waiting outside their apartment for them.

She seemed a little intimidated by the irritated scowls on both of their faces, but didn't ask questions.

Lup managed a quick grin at Lucretia as she got into the car, wanting to make sure she knew that they weren't pissed at her.

Taako rolled his eyes at the sight, and that prompted Lup to start scowling again.

"Um, so, the first place I recommend is a little far from here, but they have a large selection and high customer satisfaction rates. And the owner likes me, ever since that review came out. They're a little bit more expensive than some other places, but not by much, and they have some options for sliding scale financing, if necessary," Lucretia said.

She seemed to be waiting for confirmation before going, but Taako didn't really care that much.

"Yeah, whatev," he shrugged. "You know your shit."

He stared out the window as they drove, too caught up in his own thoughts to pay much attention. He kept one arm wrapping around his stomach, blocking it from view even though no one else was there to see it.

Lup was right that he was barely showing. Probably no one else would even notice a difference. But it felt big to him. Big and uncomfortable and obvious. And it was only going to get worse.

He didn't tend to experience a lot of dysphoria, because he didn't really care too much about what other people thought his gender was. He approached gender in the same way that he'd approached food as a starving kid- if it's on offer, he'll take it and make it amazing. Being assumed to be a woman was only annoying when it was the _only_ thing people saw him as. He'd transitioned and started using he/him pronouns because he could be more obviously gender-nonconforming that way, not because he couldn't stand the sight of himself.

But that didn't mean that he never felt dysphoric.

And carrying a baby looking like he did was going to make him look like a woman.

Most people knew better than to assume that anyone carrying a baby was a woman. But someone with long hair, who liked to wear skirts and dresses occasionally, and was obviously pregnant? He was going to have to deal with so many assumptions.

He wasn't a woman, and he wasn't totally a man, but something that included and transcended both of those things. He could enjoy being seen as a woman at times, but not _every day._ Not for months on end.

And it was going to happen. And he was going to have to deal with that. And it made his skin crawl.

He'd spent a long time being seen as only a woman before. He could handle it. And he remembered that it wasn't all bad, all the time. He wasn't going to feel this shitty for the entire rest of the pregnancy.

He just hated how shitty he felt right now.

Lup and Lucretia were talking and laughing in the two front seats, and it made him happy, somewhere under the rest of his feelings.

He knew that he should just talk to Lup about how he was feeling. She would understand, and she'd help him feel better, and he could just spend the day moping and watching shit television if he wanted to.

But he felt so uncomfortably exposed already. The idea of peeling away _more_ layers of himself, even to his sister, held no appeal.

Once he got to the store, he could distract himself. They'd be buying stuff and he could start thinking about the layout of the baby room, and how he wanted everything to look. He just had to get through this dumb car ride, and he'd be okay.

-

Lup knew that Taako was feeling grumpy, but she didn't really understand why. He'd been excited for this trip. He had been happy about designing the little squirt's room, and he'd been looking forward to teasing her about the crush he was sure she had. He might just be having a bad morning. He'd never been a morning person to begin with, and recently it had been even worse, with how easily he got tired and the fact that the nausea always seemed to be the worst when he woke up, either from a nap or a full sleep.

Whatever it was, she could handle it later. If he wanted to be pissy, he could be pissy. She was going to focus on having a fun day out with her brother and her friend.

Taako had let her have the front seat, probably because she was closer to Lucretia than he was, and because of his certainty that they liked each other.

Lup was sure that he was wrong though. Lucretia was pretty, of course, but it took more than that to make a crush. She was just fun to hang out with, was all. And anyway, Lucretia obviously wasn't crushing on her. She saw Lup as a friend- she'd outright said so. And the joke she'd made when they hung out last week about her and Seb begin adults- she wouldn't have said that if she had a crush, right? Who said something like that to someone they wanted to like them back?

She had a fun conversation with Lucretia on the way to the store, and was mildly disappointed when they arrived, because it disrupted their talk and then Taako was interjecting himself into it and dragging them inside.

They were greeted by a smiling half-elf at the door, who introduced themself as Mina to Lup and Taako before pulling Lucretia into a quick hug.

Lucretia's eyes went wide at the unexpected contact, but she quickly reacted by wrapping her arms around them back.

"I wasn't expecting to see you, Mina," Lucretia said, smiling. "I'm sure you're busy with running this place."

"I am, but not so busy that I can't greet a friend," Mina responded. "And I want to thank you for your lovely review. You write so wonderfully. We've had quite a boom in business since it came out. And to show my thanks, I'm offering a 20% discount on everything you and your friends need to buy today."

"Oh!" Lucretia said, looking back at Taako and Lup hesitantly. "Thank you very much."

"You've earned it, Lucretia," Mina said, still smiling. "I have some work to get back to, but if you have any questions, one of my staff members can get me in a moment. Have fun!"

As Mina walked off, Lup gave Taako a quick high-five, then turned to Lucretia to offer the same. Lucretia responded hesitantly, which made it kind of a crappy high-five, but whatever.

"Shit, it's nice to know people sometimes, huh?" Lup said, jostling Taako with her shoulder, as she saw him starting to retreat into himself a little more.

"Sure fuckin' is. Nobody's ever liked _me_ that much," Taako agreed. Lup laughed.

"We're assholes, yeah. 's why we gotta know people who know people. Need a degree of separation," she joked.

Lucretia looked uncomfortable, but smiled at them after a moment.

"I'm glad I could help," she said. Her smiled trailed off into a frown again shortly after.

"Hey, what's wrong, babe?" Lup asked, while Taako started to wander off to look at stuff.

"I'm not supposed to accept rewards for good reviews," Lucretia explained, glancing down at the ground nervously. "It's a journalistic integrity issue. I'm not the one who'd have to pay full price, so I couldn't turn her down- I just feel weird about."

She shrugged as she finished speaking, and Lup felt a wash of affection. This dumb dork.

Normally, Lup found it boring when people put such an emphasis on the rules, but with Lucretia, it was just endearing. Probably because she was willing to look past that rule to help them out, in the end. Emphasis on the 'good' instead of the 'lawful.'

And she was young. They all were, but Lup and Taako had been through a lot of shit that other people their maturity level and age hadn't been. So yeah, sometimes their peers seemed a little naive about the rules, before they had the chance to grow out of it.

Lup was glad, in a way, that Lucretia hadn't had to grow out of it yet. It meant she still had some trust in the world, which, yeah, could be naive, but also meant that the world hadn't hurt her too bad yet. It made Lup happy to know that Lucretia hadn't suffered too bad.

Though, truth be told, that wasn't how she normally reacted to rule-followers. It was just because she liked Lucretia- as a friend!

"Extra thanks, then," Lup said, smiling widely. "Me and 'Ko aren't, like, suffering or anything, but still. Every little bit helps."

They hadn't talked about it amongst themselves yet, but both she and Taako knew that this situation was putting their finances in peril a bit. They'd spent a long time saving up before enrolling, so that they could afford to focus on their schoolwork more, but they'd saved up for the two of them, not for three people, one of whom needed a lot of specialized stuff like cribs and diapers and shit.

A discount was definitely appreciated in that light.

Lucretia smiled brightly back at her, relieved to hear it. It left Lup a tiny bit breathless, because she'd never seen that expression on Lucretia before. It looked good on her.

"We should go find Taako. Before he gets attached to some ugly shit I'm gonna have to look at all the time," Lup said, glancing away suddenly.

This was the worst. She hated it when her brother was right.

-

Lucretia admonished herself for letting her crush get in the way of her journalistic integrity. She shouldn't start accepting rewards just for the sake of making a cute girl smile at her. She knew better than this.

But- it's not like Mina had told her that she'd be offering this. And it wasn't fair to turn it down when she didn't know how much Lup or Taako needed the money.

And she didn't even do reviews all that often anymore. The baby store had been a one-off, a collaboration between her and a friend. She didn't need to worry about this becoming a habit because she didn't have enough review opportunities for it become one, even if she wanted it to.

Lup had a really nice smile. She'd known that already, but somehow it was different when it was directed at her and her alone.

It was probably a good thing Lup decided to go find Taako when she did. Lucretia could take a moment to remind herself all the reasons why this couldn't go anywhere when Lup was focused on her brother instead.

Taako was flicking through a little magazine of sorts of different nursery images when they caught up to him.

"What'cha thinking, babe?" Lup asked, slinging her arm around Taako's shoulder to get a better look at the pictures herself. Lucretia stayed back, not particularly interested in shoving herself into their space or ruining their moment.

"Nurseries are fucking boring as shit," Taako offered. "We gotta find something better for the squirt. Not sticking my kid in something like this." He gestured to the image on the page, which, yes did seem a little bland, Lucretia had to agree.

"Let's get looking then! Don't know why you started here anyway. You know default anything ain't good enough for us," Lup said, tugging Taako's hand to lead him further into the store.

They poked around for a while, and Lucretia started making a list of the things the twins had liked after the third time that they had to double back and search for the label to remind themselves what it had looked like.

As Lup and Taako argued over yet another aesthetic idea, Lucretia started to sketch the collection she'd written down. She didn't know what the layout of the room would be, of course, but maybe it would help to have an idea of what to expect. And it was calming to draw, and she really needed something calming at the moment.

She winced a little as she worked, realizing that this room was going to be so over-the-top. That wasn't surprising, exactly, considering everything that she knew about the twins, but she really hoped that this baby inherited their sense of style, or else they'd probably see their room as an eyesore.

She felt someone tapping her shoulder, and looked up to see Mina standing behind her.

"My staff tell me that your friends are having some difficulty making final decisions," Mina said, blandly, and Lucretia cringed. She could only imagine what the staff thought of these arguments.

"A bit, yes. Lup and Taako- they're very distinct. And they have strong opinions about what the room should look like," Lucretia explained.

"Yes, I see. Nothing wrong with that. But maybe I could help. This is my business, after all," Mina said, watching the twins.

"I think that's a great idea," Lucretia nodded eagerly. She handed Mina her notebook. "I've been keeping track of everything they've liked. But I"m not sure they've thought about it all- together yet."

Mina looked down at the sketch, humming absently.

"Actually, I think this is perfectly workable. I have an idea for them," they said, striding up the twins confidently.

The twins paused their argument as Mina arrived, eyes going wary and suspicious. They turned inward, toward each other, looking at those they were prepared to defend themselves.

It made Lucretia sad, wondering what they'd been through that had them so jumpy.

"What do you want?" Taako demanded.

"You seem to be having some difficulty deciding what to purchase. I'm just here to help," Mina said, mildly.

Lup and Taako both snorted at that.

"I would also appreciate if you stopped frightening my employees," Mina's tone took on a hard note at the words.

"Haven't even done anything to 'em," Taako muttered, almost sullen, but both of them seemed to accept Mina's presence, now that they had a more pragmatic explanation for it.

"I can tell that you both have strong personalities," Mina started, and Lucretia hid a laugh in her hands at the understatement. "But something to remember about a nursery is that it is where the baby is expected to sleep. Most small children- most people in general, don't want to sleep in a room full of screaming colors, no matter what their personality."

"Yeah, great," Taako rolled his eyes. "Ya got anything actually useful to offer or...?"

"In the interest of allowing some personality while still letting your baby sleep at night- I assure you, you don't want anything to make that even more difficult- might I suggest a primary colors theme?" Mina offered.

Despite their dismissive attitude, Taako and Lup did watch Mina closely as she spoke, clearly listening.

"Red, blue and yellow. Pretty basic, but you can add some intensity with splashes of darker shades. Every baby needs to learn colors, so its a gender neutral design. Blue is a calming color, good for bedroom walls. And it'll be a good space to teach them their colors when they get older."

Taako shrugged dismissively at the words, but Lucretia could see his mind turning as he considered it.

"Not a bad idea," he said, tone noncommittal, but it was miles better than the arguing.

He took the notebook from Mina's hands, and he and Lup both looked over it, and at Lucretia's sketch.

They spoke to each other in fragmented sentences as they did, talking over each other and cutting each other off, but for the first time today, they were clearly working together. And it was a sight to see.

By the time they were getting ready to leave, they'd put together a whole plan for the nursery, and they were eagerly discussing ideas and opportunities. They were a powerhouse together, and Lucretia suddenly understood how these two were the top of their class. Together, it didn't seem like anything could stop them.

As they were on their way out, Lup pulled out a stuffed bear and showed it Taako, smiling excitedly. It was red, and fluffy, and it had the logo for the IPRE emblazoned on it. Taako rolled his eyes, but didn't stop her from adding it to their purchases.

Lucretia tucked the same bear back onto the shelf she'd found it one, when she'd seen Taako staring at it for a long time before walking away. She could always find another gift for the baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) see what i uh,,, what I did there,,, with the color scheme,,, we have fun here.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to canon, y'all. So have a surprise Barry appearance! Things are starting to move fast around here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends! Sorry for no chapter last Saturday. I've been doing Febuwhump and while I really enjoy that, it is a LOT of writing, and I couldn't quite get the spoons to write a chapter last week. So here it is this Saturday! I may or may not take another break next Saturday. It's still up in the air.

Okay. Maybe they should have waited a little longer to buy some of this stuff. Taako's room was hard to navigate now with all the baby stuff all over the place. Besides which, all of it was a constant reminder of his situation- one that was proving to be quite unwelcome.

Taako hadn't expected that. It wasn't like he could forget what was going on, whether or not there was a bunch of visual reminders all over the place. But it seemed that he'd managed to block it out at least sometimes, given how much more aware of it he was now.

The fact that he was showing probably didn't help with that either. No matter what Lup said, Taako could tell that he was showing. And it was only getting more and more obvious as time went on. Maybe not enough for any stranger on the street to tell, but it was getting there.

His clothes didn't fit like they were supposed to anymore. It was incredibly frustrating, because Taako liked to look good, and he'd collected his stash of clothing because it looked good, and now, suddenly, it didn't look good anymore.

Some of it was still fine, obviously, but his wardrobe felt like it had suddenly shrunk down to a fraction of its previous size, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was only going to get worse over the next several months.

The nausea was starting to pass- fucking finally- but it hadn't disappeared completely, and it was hardly the only annoying thing about this whole experience. He felt like he was constantly starving or exhausted, and his body hurt, and sometimes he couldn't seem to think at all.

One day after class, a professor asked to speak with him, and he knew it was about the sudden decline in the quality of his work. He had been forgetting stuff a lot recently, making dumb, careless mistakes, and it was costing him, especially considering that he was too tired to catch those mistakes a lot of the time.

She did surprise him with how she asked it though.

"Mr. Taako, is there anything going on in your personal life that may be impacting your ability to keep up with the work? I am very open to making arrangements and accommodations to help my students in these situations," she said, voice soft and careful.

Taako figured that it wouldn't hurt anything to tell her. He'd be unable to hide it soon enough anyway, and if it could buy him some pity points so he could have an easier time with his classwork, then he wasn't afraid to play on her sympathy.

"Yeah, so, I'm pregnant," he said, the words coming out with more difficulty than he'd anticipated, but whatever. It was said. "The whole thing has been rough and I'm having trouble with some things I wasn't before."

The professor began to make sympathetic noises as soon as Taako started explaining, a look on her face that suggested that she wasn't all that surprised, and Taako added another tally to his mental "told you so, Lup" checklist.

"I understand. I had two difficult pregnancies myself," she said. "We do have resources for our student parents, if you need them. Accommodations can be made to ensure you can keep up with your work and your learning. And I for one, am very willing to meet with you to help ensure that you are able to complete my course."

"Yeah, chill, that'd be great," Taako nodded.

"Why don't you come by my office hours sometime this week, and I'll help connect you with the office that handles these things, and we can work out a plan for this course. In the meantime, and for your other classes, is there anyone in your life who can help with these things? A friend or family that could look over your work for simple errors and such would be a boon in itself. Pregnancy brain is no joke," she laughed despite the words.

"Got a sister, yeah. And a friend," Taako shrugged, because he couldn't believe that he hadn't thought of that before. Of course Lup would help with this shit.

He couldn't believe that he hadn't thought about all the sympathy points he could get from this pregnancy situation before now. He was doing something fucking hard, and he deserved those sympathy points. Lup wasn't going to begrudge him lazing around on the couch like this, and it was plain common courtesy to offer pregnant people stuff like seats on public transit and whatever the fuck, he didn't usually pay that much attention.

Yeah, no, he was cashing in on _that_ for sure.

-

When Taako and Lup entered their magic theory classroom, there was someone other than their professor standing behind the podium.

"Creesh, who's that?" Lup hissed, leaning forward to whisper the question to Lucretia.

"Dr. Bluejeans," she whispered back.

"Okay, and why is he here?" Taako asked.

"I don't know. I know nothing about him," Lucretia shrugged.

"You knew his name, though," Taako pointed out.

Lucretia turned to face them at that, specifically so that they could watch as she raised her eyebrows at them incredulously.

"It's written on the board," she said.

Oh. Yeah, sure enough, "Guest Speaker Dr. Bluejeans" was written in the prof's handwriting on the board. Taako was just glad Lup didn't notice either, so that he wasn't alone in that bit of obliviousness.

Though, really, if Lup had noticed, he could have just chalked it up to pregnancy brain. That was an excuse that he already knew he was going to miss when he couldn't use it anymore. Instant understanding was less forthcoming when your excuse was "I have ADHD" or "I'm just a dumbass," the other primary excuses he had on the table for these situations.

Dr. Bluejeans looked a tiny bit uncomfortable standing in front of the crowd of students, fidgeting with his papers and rocking back and forth on his heels as he waited for class to officially begin.

Lup craned her head, trying to get a look at- yep, he was in fact, wearing blue jeans, and she grinned to herself. God, she couldn't decide which was better: if he had been born with that name, meaning there was a whole Bluejeans _clan_ out there in the world somehow, or if he had, like, full out changed his name because of his love for this particular sartorial choice.

The minute the clock ticked over to the start of class, their prof began to speak, moving from one of the front row seats to stand beside the guest speaker.

"Class, this is my colleague, Dr. Barry Bluejeans," he introduced.

God, the full name was even better. Lup fought to not let her face split into a ridiculous grin, but upon exchanging a look of amusement with Taako, knew that she was failing. She shouldn't have let herself look at Taako, because shit was always funnier when she was sharing it with him.

She shoved the grin down and tried to focus.

"I have asked him to speak with you today as he is this Institute's premiere expert on bond magic, a pioneering field that you should all expect to hear much more about in the upcoming years. I expect you all to treat him with the same respect you would show me."

"Not exactly difficult to clear that bar," Taako whispered to Lup, and she snorted, before elbowing him in the side.

"Shush! Poor nerd already looks terrified," she said, tilting her head toward the guest lecturer.

He must not teach many classes, or at least, not big lectures if he was this awkward and nervous about speaking with all of them. But if his field was so new and specialized, as prof had implied, that might make sense. Probably he was more used to doing his research and maybe teaching some smaller, high-level classes.

"Hello, everyone," Dr. Bluejeans greeted, offering them a sweet smile. "As Professor Dillon said-"

"Okay, I like him," Taako said to her, gesturing to where their prof was making a sour face at the title Bluejeans had used for him.

Bluejeans seemed oblivious to it, but Lup knew exactly what the face was for. Professor Dillweed had gone on a rant a time or two before about the fact that "doctor" was his preferred title over "professor" and how it was 'disrespectful' to not use it.

Nobody really listened to that, with even some of the fresh-out-of-high-school and suck-up students switching it out occasionally. Lup and Taako only ever used "professor", if they were even that nice about it.

The lecture was actually really fascinating, and Lup found herself leaning forward in excitement as Bluejeans talked about his work.

Lucretia was rapidly taking notes, and Lup for sure planned to ask her to look it over later, because she wanted a record of this stuff. It was really interesting.

Even Taako was pulled out of his 'too cool' attitude by the lecture a bit, and Lup saw some of the nerdier facets of her brother's personality peek out a bit. He never liked to admit to that, but Taako was a total nerd for cool magic shit, and Lup could see how much the new topic was drawing him in.

It helped that Bluejeans was so obviously invested in his work himself. He clearly loved the topic, and it made it a whole lot more interesting to listen to than Dillon's droning on about the different types and properties of magic.

"If you would like to learn more about bond magic, I teach a specialized course on the subject- MAS 375- which will be offered next semester. We'll be discussing the properties of bond magic and its usage in everything from everyday spellwork to advanced technology. There's actually a very fascinating project ongoing to utilize bond magic to power an engine- I can't speak too much on the matter now, but it's very exciting," Bluejeans explained. "Oh! And I also teach in the necromancy department!"

He seemed like he was about to go off on another tangent about that, when he noticed the clock tick over to end the class.

"Looks like we're out of time, everybody. Thanks for your time!" Bluejeans said, waving cheerily at everyone as he began to pack up his bag.

A number of students had started moving to the front of the class to speak to the guy, and Taako watched as Lup's eyes flickered over to him curiously as well.

"I gotta talk to Dillon about some shit," Taako said. "Go ahead and bother the nerd."

"I'd like to thank Dr. Bluejeans for the lecture. We can talk to him together," Lucretia offered, turning to Lup and smiling nervously.

Taako fought the urge to roll his eyes, gathering his stuff as Lup and Lucretia headed off to do that.

The classroom emptied out pretty quickly, which Taako appreciated. He didn't love the idea of talking about this where anyone could overhear, but he had to do it, and he didn't want to spend any more time around Dillon than he needed, which meant not making an appointment or anything.

By the time Taako made his way over to Dillon, Lup and Lucretia were speaking with Bluejeans, and most everyone else had left. There were a few students lingering to add in to whatever conversation was happening over there, but most everyone, especially the non-majors had left.

"Hey, Professor Dillon?" Taako asked, trying to keep it relatively professional without actually being respectful, since he _was_ about to ask this guy to do something for him and all.

"Yes, Mr. Taako?" Dillon asked, and Taako did not love the way that he looked at him, all condescending-like.

"I'm pregnant. Got some accommodations for it. Here's the info," Taako said, reaching into his bag to pull out the very official looking and very crumbled form he'd been given to share with his professors.

Dillon took it, wrinkling his nose, and Taako could just tell that the guy was judging him, and he would say something if the dude wasn't, like, in charge of his grades and shit.

"I see. Well, I'm not exactly sure what you expect me to do for you, but-"

Bluejeans walked over at that moment, interrupting Dillon to say, "Oh, Wyatt, if you'd like, I can provide some of my notes on how to alter a lesson plan for accommodations like these! It can be a little complicated, I know, but I'm happy to help. The Office for Student Health has some great resources too. It's really awesome how committed the Institute is to supporting our students, isn't it?"

Taako glanced back toward Lup and Lucretia, wondering if they'd caught all that too, only to find them watching Bluejeans with surprised and pleased expressions. From how they were standing, it kind of looked like Bluejeans had walked over in the middle of the conversation to say that, and Taako tried to keep his expression neutral, instead of the smug look he wanted to give.

"Yes, you're right, of course. I would be so glad to receive those notes, Barry," Dillon said, through somewhat gritted teeth and a forced smile. Taako was pretty sure the usage of the guy's name was intended to sound disrespectful, knowing dickheads as well as he did, but it was pretty weak considering that Bluejeans had used Dillon's name first.

"Wonderful. I'll send them over right away. We'll set up a meeting to talk it over, yeah?" Bluejeans said, smiling and looking for all the world like a friendly colleague instead of the asshole he clearly was.

Not like Taako minded though. He was being an asshole on his behalf, after all, and Taako's favorite people all tended to be assholes, so he was mostly just amused.

"So, we're done here, yeah?" Taako asked Dillon, because if he didn't get out of this conversation, he was going to laugh in the guy's face, and that wasn't gonna earn him any favors, he knew.

"Yes, I do believe so," Dillon said, turning away and picking up his own bags to walk out of the lecture hall.

"I, uh, hope you don't mind me interrupting like that," Bluejeans said, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, suddenly looking a bit nervous.

"Nah, dude, that was great," Taako said, waving off the apology before the guy could even finish saying it.

"Nice! Dillon's such an ass, amiright?" Lup said, throwing one hand up for a high five, which Bluejeans quickly but nervously reciprocated.

"Listen, I don't want to pry, but if he's being a dick or anything about all this, you can contact the department and they'll sort it out. Dillon is an old-fashioned sort, but he has tenure, so he feels comfortable being shitty. But there's still lines he can't cross," Bluejeans explained, before digging in his pocket and pulling out his wallet. "In fact, here's my card. Got my number, my office, all that good shit. If he does anything, tell me and we can figure it out."

Taako took the card, because like hell was he gonna turn down free help. The guy seemed pretty genuine in his desire to help too, and Taako appreciated the offer, even if he wasn't sure if he'd ever feel a need to take it.

"Thanks, man," Taako said, before turning back to Lup. "So we good to go now, or?"

"I think so, yeah." Lup agreed, turning to Lucretia, "See ya, Luce!" She also offered a beaming smile and a wave at Bluejeans as they left. "You're great! We'll talk later, yeah?"

Bluejeans didn't seem to know quite what to say to that, just nodding and waving as Taako and Lup made their escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Barry for sure knows how Dillon feels about being called Professor.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are speeding up!! Things are Going to Happen!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friends! I made some small edits timeline wise to this story, as I wrote them before I had fully planned where the story was going to go next, and so if you remember that originally this was Taako and Lup's first year, no you don't. ;) it's their final year. Also elf pregnancies take 12 months instead of what I said earlier. No big changes, really, but I wanted to mention it here to avoid any confusion!

Lup enjoyed the lecture that Dr. Bluejeans had given to their class, and she _really_ enjoyed watching the guy dunk on Prof. Dillweed when he tried to be an ass to Taako about his accommodations.

So she decided to visit his office, thank him personally, because gods know Taako wouldn't, even though he had appreciated it, and hopefully she could learn more about bond magic and the potential to study it, because _wow_ that had been a cool-ass lecture.

She knocked on the open door to the guy's office, getting a quick "come in!" in response.

She stepped in, and Bluejeans was sitting behind his desk, tidying up some paperwork in front of him. His office was messy, in that stereotypical professor way, full of paperwork and books and little nerd knickknacks.

"Hi! I'm Lup, we spoke after your guest lecture the other day," Lup reintroduced herself, though she thought the guy probably remembered. Still, it was only polite, especially since he'd met another person that same day who looked the same as her, and that could be confusing.

"Oh, hi! Nice to see you again, Lup!" Bluejeans smiled broadly, seeming genuinely excited to see her, and Lup found herself smiling back automatically.

"Nice to see you too, Bluejeans," Lup offered, sitting down at the chair opposite the man. "I, uh, wanted to say thanks for helping my bro out last week. We can take of ourselves, but, sure is easier when someone with a bit of actual authority can help out."

"Like I told your brother, it's no problem. I hate that guy, so I'm totally up to irritate him, especially when it's for such a good cause," Bluejeans responded, shrugging.

"An asshole after my own heart," Lup laughed. Maybe not the best thing to call a professor, even if she wasn't actually one of his students, but judging by all their previous interactions, she didn't think he'd mind too much.

He just chuckled in response to that, and there was a moment where neither of them said anything before Bluejeans shifted in place awkwardly.

"Was that all you had to say or did you have something else?" he asked. "Not- I'm not trying to tell you to leave or anything! I just wasn't sure."

"I was actually hoping to talk more about bond magic! The way you talked about it was so interesting, and I'd love to learn more. I know you said you're offering a class on it next semester, but I'm going to graduate this semester, so I wouldn't be able to attend," Lup explained, genuine disappointment causing her shoulders to slump as she explained.

"Oh! Well, I can recommend some writings and videos about it, if you'd like. And honestly, I'd love to just talk about it with you anytime," Bluejeans offered.

"Nice! Here's my stone number," Lup offered, scribbling it quickly on a piece of paper with her name. She started to draw a little heart next to it, only to belatedly change it into a smiley face when she realized what she was doing.

_Why had she done that? It wasn't like she liked the guy. Not like that, anyway._

Probably just habit. Usually when she was giving people her stone number, it was in the process of flirting with them. So it was just instinctive.

-

When Lup got back to the apartment, she found Taako sitting in the living room staring into space with his hands wrapped around his stomach. She was on edge immediately at the distance in his eyes, and dropped her stuff where she was standing to get to where he was as fast as she could.

She crouched in front of him, and he startled at the sudden movement, giving her an odd look.

"What's up Lulu?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"That's what I was gonna ask," Lup said. "Are you okay?"

"Natch," Taako said, casual, leaning back into the couch cushions as if nothing was wrong, reaching for the textbook at his side and starting to read it- a clear dismissal.

Lup heaved a frustrated sigh. Taako was like this, and he'd been like this, and usually she was content to let him have his space if he didn't want to talk about something. But right now, Taako wasn't the only one that her silence could affect. If something was wrong, then he needed to get it figured out for the baby's sake. Taako was trying to be responsible about all this, she knew, but it wasn't the easiest thing for him, and he could make mistakes. And if those mistakes hurt the baby, she knew he'd be devastated.

On the other hand, if it really was nothing, then she'd just be irritating Taako by insisting that he tell her. She never liked arguing with her brother, but with his hormones going wild like they were now, it was even worse. He could be moody at the best of times, and the mood swings were definitely not helping. Getting into an argument over nothing would just make them both miserable.

She stood up and went to take care of the stuff she'd dropped. She just have to trust him. He cared about the little parasite, and he wasn't going to be dumb about this.

She sat down with some homework in the living room, and they both worked in silence for a little while, until Taako set his book down at stared at nothing again for a little bit.

"Lu-" he said, voice low and uncertain. Another jolt of anxiety flashed through her, but then Taako continued, "I think it's moving."

The anxiety turned to excitement, and Lup tossed her book to the side and moved to sit next to Taako.

"Let me feel!" she insisted, reaching one hand out toward him, but waiting for his permission to actually touch.

Taako laughed and brought her hand down onto his stomach, warning her, "It's not moving much, I don't think you're gonna feel anything."

True to his words, she couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary under her hand, which was disappointing, but there was still something amazing to knowing that the baby was moving. She was hit with a sudden pang of longing jealousy, but she pushed it down. She didn't want to be a mom. Not yet. A cool aunt, yeah, okay, but not a mom. And it wasn't like this whole pregnancy shtick was all sunshine and flowers and whatever.

She was happy for Taako, and that was all that she would let herself feel.

-

There was a knock on the door, which was weird. They didn't have a ton of friends that would stop by unannounced, and a lot of their friends didn't actually know where they even lived, specifically. Taako considered just not answering the door at all, but the knocking just kept going as he ignored it.

He pulled himself up out of his chair with an irritated groan, stalking to the door and opening it with a hissed, "What."

Taako was surprised to see Sebastian on the other side of the door, shifting in place awkwardly. After he'd opened the door, Seb's eyes were drawn down to Taako's stomach, which was started to develop a definite swell. Not particularly obvious to anyone who wasn't aware quite yet, but noticeable regardless.

"I'm here to apologize," Sebastian blurted, finally, dragging his eyes back to Taako's face and seeing the impatient expression there. "I- How I reacted- to your situation- was really fucked up and I'm sorry."

"Thanks. That all?" Taako said, flatly.

“No! It’s not. I, um, got this gift? For the baby. I don’t think- you wouldn’t want me to be part of their life, and I'm not sure I would either, but I thought I should get them something so-" Sebastian opened his hand and there was a tiny bracelet with a few charms on it. "It's a Blessing Bracelet. You can make or buy a longer chain as they grow. The charms are blessed for protection."

"Great," Taako said, no enthusiasm at all in his voice. He reached over after a long moment to pluck it from Sebastian's hand.

"And the next payment," Sebastian said, pulling his back to his front and digging around inside it until he found a creased envelope and pulled it out for Taako to take. "I know Lulu usually brings it by, but I figured if I was already making the trip and everything," he trailed off, shrugging.

A ghost of a smile crossed Taako's face at the cutesy nickname for Lucretia- it was the same one he used with Lup sometimes- and it painted a rather endearing picture. He fought it down by the time Sebastian had finishing searching his bag and brought his eyes up to see Taako's face again though. Don't want the guy getting any ideas.

"Mhm," Taako agreed. He wasn't gonna thank the guy for paying what he owed him.

"Goodbye," Sebastian said, with a stiff, awkward nod, turning to walk away.

"See ya," Taako said as he closed the door, not realizing the implication in the words until after he'd already done it. Shit, he hoped Sebastian didn't read anything into that. He just hadn't been thinking.

He dangled the bracelet with one hand, examining it. Cute enough, he supposed. Seemed kind of weird to give a baby jewelry, but whatever.

He set it down on the end of the kitchen counter to open the envelope with the cash and ended up forgetting it there.

-

When Barry finally told Lup about the 'special project' that he'd mentioned briefly in the lecture, she'd immediately been floored with excitement. They were sending people to explore the other planes? That was the kind of science fiction daydream that everyone had assumed would be decades or more away.

Barry told her that it had been- until the Light of Creation. Lup knew about the Light, vaguely. Everyone knew about it, after its dazzling arrival on their world earlier in the year. She just hadn't really thought about it much sense. She knew that scientists were studying it for its unique properties and that was about it.

But apparently, it was so much more than that. And the IPRE was finally going to achieve the goal that they had been founded for- the dream that had motivated her and Taako to apply to the associated school in the first place.

And then- Barry said that he thought she should apply for the mission. He told her that, as an insider who was already working on the project, that he thought she would be an excellent fit.

Of course she had to apply.

She got back to the apartment with two copies of the application, one for her and one for Taako. She knew that he would want to be part of this just as much as she did, and he was as qualified as her, so if Barry said she was a good fit for the mission, then so was Taako.

She would love to do this with him, though she wasn't going to get her hopes up yet. They were amazing at what they did, yes, but there were obviously going to be a ton of applicants to the program, and not many of them would actually be chosen.

And there was the baby to consider. Taako wasn't due for a while yet, but if the mission was going to happen anywhere close to his due date, then no way would the Institute let him go. And they couldn't leave a newborn baby alone while they went off exploring the planar system. Maybe they could leave an older baby for a short period of time- Lucretia might agree to watch him for a couple months if necessary- but he'd have to be a little older before that would be possible. Or maybe the Institute would let them bring the kid with them. But Lup kind of doubted it. Too dangerous. Too much bad press if anything happened to the kid.

Her heart slowly sank as she realized that Taako probably wasn't going to be able to go on this mission. Maybe in a few years. And if she got selected for _this_ mission, then she was going to have to go on it without her brother. Taako wouldn't begrudge her the chance, and it would still be a fucking dream come true- but it wouldn't be the same as going out exploring with her brother on the first ever interplanar exploration.

There was no use imagining worst case scenarios. She and Taako could still apply. The worst that could happen is they say no to him or to them both, and then they could just apply again in a few years. It would probably be a good sign to the selection committee that they'd wanted it ever since they found out about it anyway.

And who knows? Maybe they'd be accepted. Maybe the mission was sooner than Lup was anticipating. The whole concept of interplanar travel was coming to fruition sooner than she had ever expected it to. Taako still had a solid eight months or so before the baby was going to be born. It wasn't impossible.

They'd never been ones to give up in the face of difficulties, so they shouldn't stop now.

-

The next time Lucretia stopped by the twins' place, she found them sitting at the kitchen table, surrounded by textbooks and papers, looking more focused than she'd ever seen them before. Which was kind of weird. The twins were good students, but not because of their dedication-not that they couldn't work hard, but their success came more from intelligence than anything else. They were more likely to spend hours on a subject they liked, whether or not it had any relevance to their classes, than they were to put hours into their classwork unless it was really necessary to spend that much time on it.

And they didn't have any big projects of upcoming exams as far as Lucretia knew that could be requiring such intense study so whatever this was, it had to be a personal project.

They greeted her when she entered the room, but either seemed willing to disengage from their work quite yet, so Lucretia decided not to interrupt them. She understood getting that invested in something, and she'd give them a minute to themselves.

As she waited, she found herself looking around the kitchen, idly picking things up and fiddling with them to pass the time.

And then she found a little charm bracelet at the end of the counter. A very familiar looking charm bracelet, and her mouth slipped into a small 'oh' of surprise when she picked it up.

Sebastian had gotten a Blessing Bracelet for the baby.

"Hey, Luce, any idea why your brother thought that was a good gift for a baby?" Taako asked, having pulled away from his work enough to look up and see what she was doing.

"Yeah," she nodded, examining the charms with a careful eye. "It's a cultural thing. Blessing Bracelets are given from parents to children to signify their hopes that the child will have a good life. The charms are for specific blessings and can be given by any family member but- I didn't think he cared enough to do it. This- he should have explained, but this is _important_. I still have mine even now," Lucretia said. They had to know what this meant. It figured that Sebastian had been uncomfortable explaining, but she wanted to make sure that they knew.

She wasn't an especially faithful person, but this was big. And the baby deserved to have one and to know the importance.

"Oh," Taako said, seeming to not know what else to say about it.

Lucretia examined the specific charms that Sebastian had chosen, wanting to explain better and unsure how.

"He picked the charms for the goddess Istus and the gods Rao and Cuthbert. They would have been blessed by the various clerics and holy ambassadors for them. Istus signifies a wish for a good life and a kind destiny. Rao, safety from conflict and an ability to bring peace to those around you. Cuthbert is for ambition tempered by common sense- to be driven but not reckless," Lucretia explained, voice soft and emotional. The care that Sebastian had shown by making these choice meant more than the blessings themselves to her mind. "They're all gods of knowledge. A wish for intelligence and wisdom."

She watched them closely as she handed the bracelet back to Taako. They had to know. They had to understand.

Taako took the bracelet back, meeting her gaze and tilting his head to the side. He didn't get it. Not fully. But he got it enough.

"Okay," he nodded, and tucked the bracelet into his pocket carefully.

A sense of relief that she couldn't explain settled over Lucretia, and she smiled widely at him.

"Thank you," she said, unsure who she meant it for. She supposed she was just grateful in general. Just relieved and happy.

Everything was going to be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D
> 
> Important Baby Bracelet is important for more than just cultural reasons ; )


End file.
